08 | May | 2010 | Advocate's Studio

: Image via CrunchBase

With more than 200,000 apps in the App Store, finding the best of the best is becoming increasingly difficult. iTunes and Genius are not of much assistance and third party sites and services have leaped in to fill the void.

A credible competitor in this field is AppsFire (link here) .With a newly revamped page, desktop tool and download-able iPhone application, AppsFire really streamlines the process of discovering, demoing and sharing iPhone apps and presents a very real challenger to the iTunes monopoly. You can search for apps yourself, or, if you are in need of some expert advise, check out the VIP section on the Web – lists compiled by tech elite and power users. AppsFire also will recommend apps based on your app downloads and history. The iPhone app lets you compare apps with other iPhone toting friends via Bluetooth.

The AppsFire interface looks great on the iPad. The team is also developing a similar product for the Android marketplace. Take a look at what the tech press has to say:

“there needs to be a way to filter out what you don’t want and find what you do [….] AppsFire may offer just that”

TechCrunch

“Appsfire is a service that makes it easier to share your favorite iPhone apps with your friends”

TheNextWeb

“The must-have App Sharing app”

ReadWriteWeb

“AppsFire is an interesting idea [..] It then generates a list you can share with friends”

TechBlog

“The app is a breeze to use on both desktop and the iPhone, and takes app sharing to a new level”

Just Another iPhone Blog

“[Appsfire is] Helping solve the discovery of relevant applications”

Louis Gray

“The Perfect Merge of iPhone Apps and Social Media”

TechnMarketing

“AppsFire is a nice little software piece that[..] can be counted upon for finding apps that might interest you”

Killer Startup

And, check out their demo video below:

Appsfire Launches New Website, iPhone App For Much Improved App Discovery (techcrunch.com)
Sharing iPhone & iPad Apps is About to Get Cooler (readwriteweb.com)
iPhone App Trend: Apps That Help You Sift Through The Garbage On The App Store To Find The Only Good Apps (businessinsider.com)

Do you like the look of Bing with its photo backgrounds? I do, but I don’t like to be tied to a Bing search.

You can file favitt.com under “visually appealing” first and “productivity and efficiency” tools second, but I found it cool nonetheless. Favitt is essentially a Google custom search page on which you can apply your own skin or photo background, and toggle between different search engines. Choices include Google, Images, Bing, YouTube, News, Amazon, Wikipedia, Twitter, Digg, Last.fm, Yelp, Answers, and Maps. Favitt also allows you to add links on the search page to your favorite sites including FAcebook, MySpace, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Hot Mail.

It is efficient in the sense that it offers you the ability to toggle between a variety of popular search tools and use quick links for favorite sites. And looking nice while doing it. Favitt promises that new features are coming. We shall see.

Check out my Favitt page here (link here).