This week, I’ve been testing out an iPhone app to help me with the cleaning. Stick with me here people, it’s not quite as dull as it sounds.

Morf is an app that helps you clean your Stuff using everyday household items.

Morf tells you how to:

• Remove a broken lightbulb….with a potato
• Get rid of rust….with an onion
• Remove splinters…with Sellotape
• Deter deer from your house…with a white sheet (always useful.)

Essentially it’s an app full of unusual ways to get things done, using stuff that’s already sitting in your cupboards. This means you use fewer chemical products, making it wonderfully eco-friendly. Plus, you get to involve potatoes in your life in a more enriched and meaningful way.

You can scroll through the wheel of products to see what can be done about an issue, use the search section, add your own Morf to the database or share a top tip on Twitter or Facebook.

It’s like a mobile version of How Clean Is Your House. Without the annoying Kim and Aggy aspect.

The Morf app is £1.79 to download, and works on the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad.

Have you ever deterred deer from your house? Share your tips!

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This week, we’ve been drooling over quirky stationery, munching on Marmite carbs, playing retro games with a new tech twist, giggling at a man dressed up as Lady G and getting comic-happy with the Half Tone app.

Fancy

Fancy is “part store, blog, magazine and wishlist”. It’s a bit like Tumblr or Posterous, but much cleaner — and meme-free (yup, meme overkill does exist).

I use it to find new products, save new finds and collect them all in one pretty place.

It’s particularly good for finding independent designers and amazing wall art. You can also follow your favourite stores, so you can get a peek at the newest products first.

It’s through Fancy that I discovered the ultimate in geeky stationery products – colourful Tetris Sticky Notes.

Marmite Bagels

I need to explain why these are brilliant?

Fine.

It’s a marmite-flavoured bagel. Which saves you two minutes in the morning spreading the love/hate spread on your breakfast carb. Which means two more minutes to stay in bed.

At £1.39 for get a pack of 4 from Waitrose, it works out as a pretty cheap breakfast too.

Kijjaa!

Kijjaa! is a Japanese-style website game you load onto your desktop or laptop, and control with your iPhone. Download the app and enter the code given on the website, and the game will  load up. It’s very much an 80s arcade-style game, with fairly basic graphics, but it’s interesting stuff wirelessly controlling your battleship by tipping and moving your iPhone.

It’s not quite as addictive as Angry Birds, but the particularly impressive thing about this game is the potential for further uses of this technology.

Weird Al Yankovic parodies Lady Gaga

Weird Al Yankovic and Lady Gaga really are a match in kooky heaven. Here’s the evidence:

Halftone

Halftone is a new app for both the iPhone and iPad that lets you put your photos into a comic-book style frame, along with captions, sound effect icons  and grainy visuals. It’s fun on the iPhone, but really comes into its own on the iPad, where you can add the tiniest detail for the perfect comic strip.

I’ve spend roughly 27% of my week turning my dog into a superhero using this app.

Discovered anything you think the dorks will love this week? Let us know in the comments, or send us a Tweet.

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I hate waiting for the bill in restaurants. If I know I’ve got to be somewhere after my meal I find my blood pressure rising as I watch waiters take their time over other customers. How dare they! Don’t they know I’ve got somewhere to be?!

Thankfully, Pizza Express is leading the revolution in the way bills are paid with the launch of an app that could see all my woes disappear.

Launched yesterday, the app not only allows you to find and book a restaurant but to settle your bill via Paypal without involving the waiters at all.

You can even integrate the numerous vouchers and special offers with your payment (let’s face it, who goes to Pizza Express without a voucher code these days?). Very simply, you enter the 12-digit code on your bill into the app, add any voucher codes or special offers that you have and press pay. The till gets notification that you’ve paid and you get a confirmation email.

I’m genuinely excited about this app and what it could mean for the dining industry. I predict we’ll see many other dining establishments rushing to produce their own versions.  So many brands have released seemingly pointless apps that add nothing of value.

Pizza Express CEO Mark Angela says “We knew there was no point just launching an app for the sake of it, so we waited until we had a system that could genuinely improve our customers’ experience of eating out at PizzaExpress.” Quite.

The only downside I can foresee is the lack of 3G signal in some venues making it difficult to use; my local branch has absolutely no signal whatsoever when inside. How about rolling out wi-fi in the restaurants next? The App is also currently only available to iPhone users, with Android and other platforms hopefully being rolled out soon. Other than that, I’m excited to try it out. Any excuse to eat more pizza.

So tell us, will you be using this app?

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Today, Quidco has announced the launch of its iPhone app, something of a dream app for a bargain hunting, iPhone addicted girl like myself.

Not familiar with Quidco? It’s a cashback website that allows you to earn a percentage of money back on your shopping if you click through from their site. They’ve got over 3,000 retailers, so you should be able to find your favourite store. You can even use it to book hotels and holidays, and they often have some fantastic offers on mobile contracts and iPhones.

Handy when you’re shopping online, but what about shopping on the high street?

The iPhone app allows you to earn and save money when you walk into the store. There are several ways you can do this:

• In-Store cashback. Register your debit or credit card with Quidco and you can earn cashback when you’re shopping in store.  The app allows you to see what rate the store offers.
• Special Offers. Quidco has a number of special offers, including exclusive codes you can show in store or in restaurants for a discount.
• Check-in. You can ‘check-in’ to participating stores, where you’ll earn a small amount (usually between 10-25p) each time.

I’ve been trying it out for a few days now, and it’s a really simple and handy way to save money. All the deals close by are listed using your GPS, so it’s easy to find bargains nearby at the click of a button.

It’s clear that a lot of work has gone into building the app, and the result offers a strong rival to apps like VoucherCloud. The check–in feature in particular is impressive, offering more incentive than several other social location apps.

You can download the Quidco iPhone app (also suitable for iPad and iPod Touch) for free from iTunes.

It’s an app that saves you money on stuff you’d buy anyway. What’s not to love?

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The whole world is already fed up with Royal Wedding fever, right?

And we haven’t even got to the big day yet. Still, in the interests of civic duty we’ve had a look at some of the apps on offer to help you enjoy the special day just that little bit more…

Read more…

First up is Hello Magazine’s offering. As can be expected, this comprises a series of photographs of the couple, behind-the-scenes gossip and the promise of the best photographs of the day itself.

Not very ground breaking and not much fun, either (unless you really love Kate & Wills and who are we to judge?).

Next is iDo (see what they did there?). This app allows you to track the Royal couple, keep track of where you are on a map of the area, follow the most important Twitter feeds relating to the day and check the timetable.

They say it’s ‘an essential purchase for anyone wanting to celebrate Kate and Will’s Royal Wedding’. I say save money by simply watching the procession.

I very much doubt it’s going to go to fast to keep track of. Also, Google Maps and Twitter provide much of the same function and unless you’re going to be at the service I’m not sure why you’d need a timetable of events anyway. If you are at the service, of course, nobody is going to look very kindly on your playing with your iPhone.

Providing a slightly more fun and interactive angle on the royal app front is the BBC’S Weakest Link Royal Wedding edition, free on the day of the wedding. This does what it says on the tin: allows you to play the weakest link with questions about the royals and their lives.

I’m not sure I could answer any of these questions so let’s move on to the next app: Dress the Royals – Wedding Edition. A bit more on my wavelength, the app allows you to dress the happy couple (and family) in a choice of 40 outfits.

This app is ideal for those of you bored of the speculation surrounding Kate’s dress; have her get hitched in a frogman’s suit instead.

Not wanting to be left behind, Westminster abbey has joined the club by releasing an app of its own. Lazer technology allows for a highly realistic, 3d tour of the church complete with annotations and behind the scenes updates.

If you really want to let the Royal couple know how you feel about their nuptials, you can download the W&K Guestbook for iPhone, iPod touch and iPhone and record your message as well as reading everybody’s elses.

Finally, we come to my favorite of the bunch; The Royal Wedding Drinking Game. Following the time honoured format of such amusements, you drink a set amount every time a likely event occurs, such as ‘The Queen is Visible’ or ‘Full Shot of the Union Jack is shown’.

In the interests of health and safety the app is only available to those over the age of 17 and asks you not to use alcohol and to drink responsibly. That’s drink your lemonade responsibly, presumably.

Bottoms up!

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There are hundreds of iPhone apps out there for measuring fitness, calories, workouts and runs: the problem is, where to start?

Joely Black takes a look at the very best iPhone and Android apps to help you exercise and get fit. All the apps are available from the iPhone app store. Check for Android and other app-loving handsets with the associated apps store.

C25k/Couch to 5k

How it works

The app gives you a schedule to get you running. Instead of expecting you to run 3 miles immediately, it gives users set dates to run, and uses intervals of running and walking for each session. The running sessions increase over time as your body gets familiar with the exercise. Follow the programme and you’ll get to run 5k in two months.

Pros

You can choose to measure by time or distance, whichever suits you. The walking/jogging approach makes it easy to build up fitness over time. There are music playlists you can manage yourself, making the experience much more bearable. You can even publish your progress on Twitter to get encouragement from followers.

Cons

Playing music and using the app on iPhone 3Gs caused some problems, which was rather distracting while running.

iFitness

How it works

Either follow one of the set programmes or build your own. Probably best used as an alternative to wandering about the gym carrying sheets of paper with routines scrawled all over them.

Pros

A bit like carrying around a fitness book, this has everything you need to get a gym workout without an actual personal trainer. It even has pre-programmed workouts for certain types of people, just in case you happen to fit a stereotype (beginner, office worker, etc). It has a massive database of exercise forms with helpful pictures.

Cons

It’s fiddly to input your own personalised workout. If you’re on your very first trip to the gym, you could probably do with something simpler.

Hundred Push-Ups

How it works

Complete a test to work out how fit you are, and then embark on a programme of daily push-ups. Log your push-ups week-by-week, working up to a target of 100 a day.

Pros

Well, it doesn’t get simpler than this. I won’t say easier, because it took me a while to work out how to do the push-ups properly. But, if you’re looking for something that won’t take much time each day, and something you can do in the house, this might be for you.

Cons

It’s boring. Really, really, boring. It’s not exactly varied exercise and just doing push-ups isn’t going to give you a lot of all-round cardio fitness like running. If you try this, you’d probably want to make it one section of a bigger programme.

My Fitness Pal

How it works

Keep a daily diary of your exercise and food intake. There’s an app for adding on the run, but you can also add exercise and food at home via your browser. The databases are comprehensive and you can add your own exercises (although this means working out calories yourself).

Pros

Research mentioned in Richard Wiseman’s 59 Seconds book suggests that knowing how many calories you’ve burned and writing down what you eat and burn up in exercise enhances results. It’s amazing how much better you behave when picking what to eat if you’re going to write it down. You can see exactly how everything balances out.

Cons

It won’t teach you anything, or give you a programme to follow. It’s strictly for recording what you’ve already done.

Daily Ab Workout

How it works

Two five minute workouts you’re meant to do daily, totally abs-focused.

Pros

Nice and easy, with lots of simple abs exercises that you could easily extend beyond the limiting five minutes. If you want something that takes very little time but is a first step toward fitness. It’s not going to take much time out of your day, either.

Cons

There isn’t much else to it, and with only two workouts, it’s going to get old quickly, especially as you get stronger. Like the 100 Push-Ups programme, it won’t give you all-round fitness benefits

Android App Store

Apple App Store

Zune Windows 7 App Store

BlackBerry App Store

[Image: DavidGardinerGarcia]

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Bicycling: it’s good for your health, environmentally friendly and a much easier way to get around town without being stuck in a traffic jam (or stood under the armpit of an unpleasant smelling gentleman on the tube).

But it’s a pain in the arse if you get lost. Or get a puncture.

Thankfully, there’s a bunch of useful iPhone apps you can download to make sure you’re prepared for most problems.

Bike-loving, Slow-Life blog, Jorg & Olif, has some useful suggestions for iPhone apps for cyclists:

Cycle Aids

Something wrong with your bike and not sure how to fix it? This £2.99 app gives you plenty of videos and step by step guides, teaching you everything from how to security code your bike to how to fix a puncture.

London Cycle: Maps & Routes

This is the Swiss army knife of apps. You can check cycle hire availability, set a timer for using the rentals and see offline maps of London. Best of all, it’s free!

London Bike Shop

If you don’t fancy mending your bike yourself, or just need a replacement part, this £1.19 app will tell you where your nearest bike shop is.

CycleStreets

Being on a bike doesn’t mean you’re immune to getting lost. This sat-nav, specially designed for cyclists, will guide you around your chosen location. You can even keep a photo diary of your journey.

Mountain Bike Trails

For mountain bikers who want a bit of a challenge, this £1.19 app is designed by mountain bikers for mountain bikers to find the best trails. It currently contains over 5,000 trails across the UK, USA and Canada.

Source: Slow Life Company [Jorg & Olif]

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Did you know that over 12 million copies of the supremely addictive Angry Birds game have been downloaded? Fancy playing a game of Angry Birds in real life*? Then why not whip yourself up your very own Angry Bird plush toy with this pattern and tutorial from Obsessively Stitching. Just like the game, the pattern is free.

There is also a tutorial on the site for Angry Birds Christmas tree ornaments too if your tree is still looking a bit bare.

*Disclaimer: Do not blame me if people get cross with you for firing stuffed bird toys at them!

Related: Free Patterns on Dork Adore | More iPhone Apps on Dork Adore

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I’m a little late to the iPhone party. Like several years late. Consequently, I’ve gone a bit mental in the apps store, downloading every decent app I’ve heard about in the last few months/years, and a few more embarrassing ones (Christmas countdown anyone?). I of course blame this entirely on Frackulous, who have been torturing me with videos of Angry Birds and Remember the Milk apps for months.

As a girl who prefers to conduct her shopping from home, where shopping in my trackies with a glass of wine is considered acceptable, it was somewhat inevitable that I’d make a beeline for the fashion apps section of the iTunes store. An area where I’m spoilt for choice.

So, after spending some time shopping in the name of research *ahem*, here are five of the best fashion apps for your iPhone.

Debenhams: Admittedly, the fact that they’re offering 15% off at the moment when you download the app helps, but the Debenhams app really is brilliant. From the app itself, you can browse clothes in your size, save them into wishlists, and then buy through the actual app. And it’s FREE!

ShopStyle: ShopStyle is a shopping site that allows you to search for products from hundreds of different stores, then click through to the shop to buy them. The free app does pretty much the same thing, allowing you to search by product, brand or shop and save them to view later.

eBay Fashion: eBay actually has several free apps for the iPhone, but the fashion app is great if you’re only interested in shoe, bags and dresses. You can search for items, bid on them, or save them to a ‘closet’, where they can be arranged on a plain background or over a photo of you.

Sartorialist: For real-life fashion, the free Satorialist app allows you to see the latest images uploaded, and share them on your Facebook page. Simple, but entertaining.

StyleBook: The only app in the list with a pricetag, at £2.39. This app makes your Cher-from-Clueless dreams come true. It lets you take photos of your clothes, so you can create outfits, resize pieces, remove backgrounds and check when you last wore it. OCD sufferers rejoice.

As a side note for all you London-based non-iPhone users, you might want to check out Salesgossip. They’ll text you every time there’s a new sale on in the high street.

Did we miss one? Tell us your favourite fashion iPhone app!

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