We’re pleased to announce that our latest app, Saving Grace, has just gone live in the App Store, and what’s more it’s FREE.

Need help with what to pack on your next holiday? Saving Grace by Grace Hotels is a packing check list and reminder tool all in one. Designed to cut the stress of packing.

The app has pre-set lists for different trip types – winter, summer, activity holiday or a short break. Activities include specific lists for surfing, cycling, golf, diving, fishing, camping etc.

You can personalise your lists by swiping to delete individual items or categories or use the ‘Edit’ button to delete multiple things at once. Of course you can add any new items that we might have forgotten. Use your lists again or start from scratch. You decide.

Saving Grace makes packing easier by showing you not only how many items you’ve already packed, but also how many are left to pack in each category. Just tap an item to move it into your ‘packed’ list.

The app also features a readymade list of important stuff to do before you travel – from travel insurance to currency to watering your plants and emptying your fridge! Tap a task when it’s completed to cross it off your list with a satisfying sound effect.

“Easing the stress of packing is all part of creating the calm and serenity that is key to a happy holiday” says Grace Hotels.

If you’ve got a holiday or short break coming up, there’s no excuse not to give it a try – Saving Grace (App Store link)

After much delay, we’re pleased to announce that the latest version of DeskClock has just gone live in the App Store.

It finally features the full screen year view calendar for 2011. Thanks to everybody for their patience while we got to the bottom of this one – we won’t go into the exact details behind the delay, but suffice to say it was due to circumstances beyond our control, not that we just couldn’t be bothered.

Anyway, as you can see above, the app features a handy year-at-a-glance calendar as well as the standard clock and month view below…

If you haven’t already got a copy, then now’s as good a time as any – get it here

As per usual, it’s created with our MyCal app that lets you superimpose calendar information on the picture of your choice and then save it out as a wallpaper image.

If you want a full size version for your computer desktop, head on over here.

We’re pleased to announce that ActionNotes for the iPad is available in the App Store as of today.

What’s ActionNotes? While not strictly a Chilli X app it’s produced by the same team that bought you Done, our popular iPhone To Do list app.

This time we’ve teamed up with the guys at Netwalk to bring you ActionNotes. We’ve taken the same ‘simple but elegant’ design philosophy that we used with Done and applied it to the Note taking genre and thrown in a To Do list for good measure

You can read all about it here.

Or better still, buy a copy from the App Store here.

Let us know what you think…

As per usual, the wallpapers are created with our MyCal app that lets you superimpose calendar information on the picture of your choice and then save it out as a wallpaper image.

As you might know we have an iPhone app called PhotoFrame and an iPad app called PhotoFramePlus. The other day I did a quick search for it in the App Store (I wanted to copy the link to send to someone) and I came across a competing app called PhotoFrame Pro HD by MAX CA APPS. So I thought I’d have a little look at the competition, and what I found turned out to be rather interesting…

The first thing I noticed is that they had copied the description of our app word for word. I won’t bore you by repeating it all again here but it is identical and couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.

Then I noticed the glowing reviews. Nobody had a bad word to say about the app but even stranger than that, most of them seemed to be reviewing a completely different app altogether and referenced features that didn’t seem to be a relevant to a photoframe app, like ‘photo filters’ and ‘liquid in the developing tray’. There was only one screenshot visible and that looked like a pretty straightforward slideshow app…

Have a look at a few of these gushing reviews

Get that tooooOOOOoooooOOOOOOooOOOo!!!!

by kirghiz43

Not only is this application very creative but it’s also one of the most entertaining apps I have downloaded in a while. I no longer find myself playing games when I am waiting for things but rather than opening this app and trying different development combinations.

Great app!

by deserves

Really great app! The endless combs of mixtures is great! tons of fun, lots of options for mixing slides! Really a powerful processing app. Also very fun and visually awesome

this app is amazing & perfect!

by clockman43

Better than any other photo app out there! It never crashes and the slide options are great. I would have paid much more for this app!

There’s a lot more like this and none of these enthusiastic reviewers ever seem to have reviewed another app before either. Although strangely, in the US store this app seems to have more ‘realistic’ reviews ie. ones that mention the actual app and specific features and have titles like ‘Not that hot’, ‘Bad execution’ and ‘Needs more settings’…

So I decided to look up the company’s website to see if I could get a better idea of what the app was like – but, surprise, surprise, the link given in the App Store wasn’t working and neither was their support link.

So I checked out one of their other iPad apps, CALCULATOR PRO HD (their capitals, not mine). From the pair of screenshots on display the app looks like a simple, albeit relatively nicely designed, calculator app. I’m not sure if they’ve copied the description for this app or not but it’s great!! If I thought that MAX CA APPS were nice guys I give them the benefit of a sense of humour – the incredibly long description of the app basically describes the advantages of ANY calculator. Apparently you won’t have to work out loan rates on the back of an envelope anymore or try and calculate what that 12% tip should be – this app can do it for you.

My favourite line is:

“Includes advanced features such as subtraction, multiplication…” Since when have subtraction & multiplication been advanced features for a calculator???

The app has the same obviously fake reviews and here’s a few of my favourites (bear in mind we’re talking about a freaking calculator app here…)

love more cool apps!

by algarvayke

This was definitely worth the price purchase. The app has so many awesome features and will only keep getting better. I love the new capabilities integration, fan map, and more and more!

Best app on the market!

by Paul merrin

This application is amazing, menu looks really good, plus has tons of amazing features! Definitely best dollar ever spent!

Excellent for relaxation or focus!

by William ammer

I was skeptical about this, but it works! Very cool!

Perfection!

by louloudah

Great app! All the information any user could possibly want, anywhere they want. Great work!

Works perfectly fine for me!

by DISKaw

I love this app, it is everything you need and then some. Download it! Do it, do it now!

Unbelievable!

by iandrana

This is totally unreal! I can’t believe that this actually works as good as it does! I am going to also download the other app which has all the utilities on it as well.

Yet again, all these reviewers seem to have only ever posted the one review.

Now I know this isn’t a massive deal and that there are some more blatant and well publicised App Store scams going on out there but, to me at any rate, it just goes to show that there’s a lot of dodgy stuff going on. I know Apple are swamped with apps to approve but at the very least, the should refuse apps that appear to have no contact details or support.

We’ve contacted Apple re. the above and will let you know if I hear anything back…

Thanks Guys – Stylish iPad Apps.

As per usual, the wallpapers are created with our MyCal app that lets you superimpose calendar information on the picture of your choice and then save it out as a wallpaper image.

When you press the power or home buttons on the iPhone, the lock screen appears and you can see your MyCal calendar wallpaper. The only problem is, it’s only visible for about 6 seconds and that might not be long enough to get a proper look at the calendar.  The solution: just move the unlock-slider a little bit to the right (not all the way across though!), hold it there and you can examine your calendar as long as you want.

According to a recent post by TUAW rounding up their favourite iPhone alarm clock apps, our Playlist AlarmClock is one of the best!

Playlist Alarm Clock lets you set up two playlists, one to send you off to sleep and one to wake you up. So pick you favourite chillout tunes and set the volume to fade out, then drift off to sleep.  Then be woken up in the morning by something a bit livelier… Of course, you can specify different volumes for each list and choose an amount of time for the music to fade in or out.

Thanks guys!