September’s Best Apps

From an app that stores all of Melbourne’s best-kept secrets, to one that plans your entire holiday, we’ve sourced you all the best new apps for your smart phone this month. We’ve also sorted you out with an app which means you’ll never stumble over an awkward pub quiz question again. So don’t blame us if you’re suddenly glued to your phone even more than usual…

Swarm.fm Spotify App

Spotify is an all-time favourite for most music lovers. And now the Swarm.fm Spotify App is here, making everything that little bit easier. The app, which won first prize at Spotify’s Music Apps Hack Weekend, combines deep exploration with rich personalised recommendations, to give fans their very own ‘music universe’ to uncover.

Swarm.fm uses the Facebook Open Graph to find relevant music activity from your friends and then makes it instantly playable on Spotify. You can browse through the activity feed and check out any friend’s music taste. There’s also an option to ‘mute’ people who have crap music taste, so there’ll be no nasty Justin Bieber-shaped surprises. Harsh but fair.

Free – available for PC and Mac

Melbourne Peculiar App

Melbourne Peculiar is a guide to the things about Melbourne that are a little bit odd or distinctive. The city is famous for its culinary delights, arty streak and fabulous fashion. It’s also renowned for its eccentricities and tucked away treasures.

This app aims to surprise even its own Melburnians by revealing the city’s most exciting well-kept secrets. Learn about ghosts, macabre history, the graves of strange inventors, the weird public art, some unusual dishes for the jaded palate and the kitschy architectural touches.

$2.99 – Available for iPhone and Android.

Melbourne Literary App

This app will take you on an inspiring journey down Melbourne’s long and winding literary path. Come across great writers and books of every genre as you explore via this exciting new app. Compile your next library list by browsing for the city’s finest writers, or get out there and discover the best literary haunts. Funky bookshops, forgotten monuments and ‘hip lit’ cafes are all on the list.

The app consists of 161 entries, all about books, authors, publishers and bookshops to visit, as well as links to online bookshops where featured titles can be purchased. After downloading the app, you will also be guaranteed regular updates featuring rich information on the literary history of Melbourne. This app is a total must for self-confessed bookworms.

$3.99 – Available for iPhone

iTranslate

There’s nothing more awkward than ordering the wrong dish in a restaurant or forgetting how to ask for a beer when you’re on holiday. Now, you can avoid the frog legs in France faux pas by simply using this handy app to guarantee you never put another foreign foot wrong.

Whether you’re out travelling, trying to learn a new language or lumbered with your little brother’s Spanish homework, you’ll never be at a loss again. The clever app combines voice recognition, machine translation and voice output in one small package. Translate words, phrases and entire sentences in more than 50 different languages and never carry a dictionary around again!

Free – Available for iPhone and Android

Tourist Eye

This is the ultimate app for any tourist out there who wants an easy way to explore. Tourist Eye includes a world travel guide with offline maps, city tours, transport maps and bookings. Plan your whole trip with this app, down to the smallest detail.

What’s really clever, is that the travel guide learns from you and your friends and therefore makes personalised recommendations with info for more than 10,000 destinations. Tourist Eye does everything in super-fast time and it’s all offline, to help you save on those hefty roaming fees.

Free – Available for iPhone and Android

The World Factbook 2012

Never stumble over a Geography question at the pub quiz with this useful app. With up to date, reliable information about more than 250 countries, you can become the biggest geek ever and impress your mates with your endless knowledge.

Topics addressed include natural resources, GDP, religion and the legal system. The user interface is smart and snappy, meaning you can look everything up extra quick so you won’t get caught cheating at the quiz…

$1 – Available for iPhone and Android

By Anna Tabrah

Travel – Australia Work & Travel Magazine – What’s On Aus, Cheap Tours & Accommodation (bbmlive.com)

Read more- things to do in Broome Archives – Go West Handbook
Also Read- Guide on Partner visa for Australia (Subclasses 820 and 801) (ozvisainfo.com)