SMMUG

Love jigsaw puzzles? You might want to try this free iOS App, Magic Jigsaw Puzzles by XIMAD. Lots of free puzzles and options to explore. No more missing pieces driving you crazy.   Magic Jigsaw Puzzles by XIMAD, Inc.

Typing on your iOS device & trying to remember the address of a place? Google’s new keyboard, Gboard, may be your new best friend. Download the free App, install it as a new keyboard and go. Search from your text with a tap. No app swapping needed.   Gboard — Search. GIFs. Emojis & more. […]

Looking for an app a bit like Yelp but broader? Microsoft’s competition is Bing, a free iOS App worth checking out. Location driven and consolidates lots of local deals, price, reviews and tons of info. Worth a look to see if it bings your bell.   Bing – find deals, check prices, and search web, […]

Do you like to read thought provoking articles but find blogs to be not quite the right forum for you? Meet Medium, the next generation for blog writers and fans. This free app is a great reader for the Medium site and an intelligent way to catch up with the myriad conversations on tons of […]

Do you ever wonder what an area might have looked like 50 years ago? If you love old maps check out Old Maps Online, a free iOS app. While it looks the best on an iPad, this advanced search tool lets you select a spot on the earth and review what maps are available for […]

The NHK News App is a great way to see what is happening in the world.  The app is from Japan, so the news has an asian focus.  Shows are all videos, in english. The live World News starts at the top of every hour.  After the fifteen minutes of news,  there follows a wide

Do you have an iPad that isn’t in constant use? If you envy your friends that have a big displays of their personal weather station, you can have the next best thing for free. WunderStation displays all the great detail from any one of the thousands of personally owned weather stations used by Weather Underground. […]

Hate spam calls on your iPhone? You might want to check out a free app, Truecaller. I had my concerns but have found this handy tool identify potential spam callers when your iPhone rings. Useful to check numbers and add your own annoying spam callers. The big red warning screen has become my friend.   […]

Do you wish you had an all purpose, serious navigation tool on your iPhone? No dancing gerbils here, iArrow is just a solid and deeply useful compass faced iOS App ($0-$3) with tons of built in data, features and options.  No internet, no problem. Now get out there!   iArrow by Alexey Ilyin

Tired of trying to figure out what is going on with your iOS device battery? Real data with real numbers on the power input, output and capacity of your battery. If you suspect your battery is worn out or your charger is wonky, Battery Health ($1-$3) will give you the info you need without the […]

Want to be notified when an App you want drops in price? Of course you do. The latest free iOS App by the great site, AppShopper.com is AppShopper Social. Lets you track what you own, want or just check price history of Apps in all sorts of ways. One of my fav “Must Have” Apps […]

Need to tie something better than the typical, lame, shoelace bow? Check out the iPhone or iPad only HD versions of Animated Knots by Grog ($2-$5 each). Incredibly clear descriptions and video on what kind of knot to use & how to tie them. Hundreds of knots from Albright to Zeppelin Bends. Even a Windsor […]

What if Siri went to charm school, sat politely listening in your kitchen and happily answered questions, played podcasts and music, read books, kept you updated on weather and news, ordered items or added them to your to-do or shopping lists, had an exploding list of new skills and you didn’t even have to touch […]

Want to be notified when an App you want drops in price? Of course you do. The latest free iOS App by the great site, AppShopper.com is AppShopper Social. Lets you track what you own, want or just check price history of Apps in all sorts of ways. One of my fav “Must Have” Apps. […]

Do you wish you had an all purpose, serious navigation tool on your iPhone? No dancing gerbils here, iArrow is just a solid and deeply useful compass faced iOS App ($0-$3) with tons of built in data, features and options.  No internet, no problem. Now get out there!   iArrow by Alexey Ilyin

Wish you could talk more technically specific about your body next time you need to see your Doctor? Try this serious, but user friendly app, Essential Anatomy 5. Price varies widely ($1-$25) so snag it when it is on sale. Drill through the layers and systems of your body from all angles without having to […]

Want to get the news of the world?  The best place is the BBC News app.  BBC Worldwide has the same good coverage and impartiality it has had during and since WW II. You can tailor the list of news feeds (there are many subjects), or listen to the Live BBC World Service radio. Works great […]

Frax is an art program that puts the “equations of nature” in the palm of your hand.   Frax – The First Realtime Immersive Fractals by Iter9, LLC  

Do you love finding new geeky products and apps? Product Hunt is a social tool to find, share and promote the best of new finds. Join in the hunt or just watch and discover what others will be talking about, next month.   Product Hunt – the best new products, every day by Product Hunt […]

Frax is an art program that puts the “equations of nature” in the palm of your hand.   Frax – The First Realtime Immersive Fractals by Iter9, LLC

Do you ever wonder what an area might have looked like 50 years ago? If you love old maps check out Old Maps Online, a free iOS app. While it looks the best on an iPad, this advanced search tool lets you select a spot on the earth and review what maps are available for […]

Love the outdoors? The Outbound is a new free iOS App that helps you find fun things to do locally you might not even know exists. Everything from extreme sports to photography and yoga spots are in their database waiting to be discovered. Why are you just sitting there? Get out there and have fun. […]

Have you ever spotted a bird you want to identify but you know nothing of “field marks”? For basic, simple bird identification this free iOS App by the good folks at Cornell is a winner. It leads you through a series of question to narrow down the hunt. Great sound bites are include on the […]

Ever wonder what those diamond shaped signs on the truck driving next to you really mean? The Emergency Response Guidebook’s (ERG) most recent version is now available as an easy to use, free iOS App. Find out what is in trucks, trains and other places and how to deal with it if it gets out. […]

Need a small bite of art every day? Check out DailyArt Free or the Pro version ($0-$5) daily for great art and the backstory on the piece. Daily Non-fattening goodness for your head and heart.   DailyArt Free – daily dose of fine art and art history by Moiseum

Want to know the real details of an airport or flight path? No fluff, just real data presented clearly for pilots and serious fliers. This is a great free iOS App that is on my essential list. -KitH   FlightAware Flight Tracker by FlightAware

Do you think we are missing the great human tool, oral stories and traditions? StoryCorps was established to help us capture the memories, for ourselves, families and maybe even others. NPR and others have grown this project and now you can add to it thru this free iOS App. Capture the sounds of life for […]

Are you curious about your family tree? Check out the free handy iOS App to compliment the extensive network of fellow searchers that take pictures and help locate cemeteries and headstone with Find A Grave. Not the least bit creepy. The handy Find A Grave just got handier. More than 100 million graves in half a […]

Want to know everything possible about a specific flight, anywhere? Flightradar24 throws the kitchen sink at aviation and gives you mind blowing amounts of info in this $4 iOS App. Try the free version to check it out.   Flightradar24 – Flight Tracker by Flightradar24 AB

With the holidays fast approaching, how do I find the cheapest gas for my trip? GasBuddy is hands down one of the first things I load on my iPhone. Free and simple it is a great tool to find where stations are & their current gas prices. Sign in & update their data when you […]

Do you want to know the backstory of a news item? This free iOS/Watch App encourages you to dig deep into headlines or even a unique search you select. Presented as a timeline or key articles, all references are serious and well sourced. Targeted and adult, a very useful tool.   Timeline – News in […]

Tired of pecking out one letter at a time when sending a text message or iMessage on your iPhone or iPad?  Checkout this app.  You swipe across the keyboard, and in a much shorter time than normal, you have completed your message. Maybe even as fast as your kid can! There is a bit of […]

Do you miss the nice click click of a real typewriter? Tom Hanx is behind this sweet little free iOS App, Hanx Writer, that recreates the sound and much of the behavior of a classic old typewriter many of us used to survive in school. A few other models are available as upgrades. All that […]

Do you wish you could make a cool inspirational image customized to your picture and text? Typorama may be what you are looking for. Priced free-$3 this iOS App is fast, easy and fun.   Typorama – Typography Generator, Cool Fonts Pic Design and Instant Creative Text over Photo Editor by Sarp Erdag

Do you have an iPad that isn’t in constant use? If you envy your friends that have a big displays of their personal weather station, you can have the next best thing for free. WunderStation displays all the great detail from any one of the thousands of personally owned weather stations used by Weather Underground. […]

Do you buy things on-line? Of course you do. Use this free iOS and Watch App to automatically capture and organize your purchases by vendor or even by type. More than just a package tracker but a really useful tool to manage your on-line financial spending patterns. All that and it politely taps you on […]

Need help at your fingertips in an emergency? The American Red Cross has developed a number of free and potentially life saving iOS Apps. The cornerstone App is First Aid with more for disasters like Tornadoes and health related tasks like blood donations and even Pet First Aid. Their Emergency App runs from your Apple […]

Looking for a news aggregator that is extensive but very easy to read on your small iPhone screen? Try the free SmartNews App. They offer a ton of news sources and a crisp Kindle-like reader format option. Snappy and clear reading ahead.       SmartNews – Trending News & Stories by SmartNews, Inc.

Want serious business news? Check out Bloomberg Business, a great, deep, free App. Global in coverage and full of intelligent information. Financial information without the shouting. Get comprehensive access to global business and finance news, market data and portfolio tracking tools from the world’s most trusted source. Now including Apple Watch features.   Bloomberg Business by […]

Do you think your favorite site is down? A handy free App to check all sorts of web sites’ status is Downdetector. Although a bit ad heavy, it can answer the common question in a snap – is it me or is the net acting flakey? Won’t fix it, but nice to know you are […]