Not to blow our own horn (which of course means we're about to blow our own horn), but we've received a lot of compliments on how cool the Appy Awards are: the concept, the categories, the awards ceremony & reception, and even the actual Appy Award trophy itself. By far though, the most frequent compliment is on our entry process. Here at the Appy Awards, we're ALWAYS open for entries. No matter what time of year - or what time of day - you can enter your app for consideration. Once you do, (A) your app will be in the running to win an Appy Award at the upcoming Awards Ceremony (in this case, March 5th in San Francisco), and (B) it will also immediately be eligible to shine in the spotlight as our "Featured App of the Week." You'll get a full review in our popular weekly newsletter, creating instant buzz! More cool news: enter anytime in 2012 and save up to 20% on the entry fees! Just click here or the button below to get started. Good luck!

The written word is one of the most important things the human race has accomplished, and of course, learning to decipher it. Literacy is so important to me, it is ironically difficult to find the words to describe the impact it has had on my life. I was fortunate to have parents that read to me from inception, and the joy of reading has stuck with me forever. That's the key, parents - start young and mold your children into the literati and not the ill-fated, unimaginative lower echelon of non-readers. With more than 67 million iPads sold to-date, it is more than likely you'll teach your children to read using a screen instead of a paperback. Books such as Your Fantastic Elastic Brain, released in hardcover two years ago and now debuting on the little screen, are made for the next generation of tech-savvy, diaper-swaddled geniuses. Based on the award-winning title by Dr. JoAnn Deak and illustrated by Sarah Ackerley, Your Fantastic Elastic Brain is more than just an ebook for children, parents and educators. This interactive edutainment app teaches children that they have the ability to stretch and grow their own brains. It also delivers the crucial message that mistakes are an essential part of learning, and introduces children to the anatomy and various functions of the brain in a creative and engaging way. Fun features include a 'Read to Me' format with voice narration that helps children learn the pronunciation and spelling of new words (a feature available on most e-readers, taking vocab to the next level for all ages). 'Fun Brain Workouts' and 'Games' help strengthen memory, improve auditory perception and foster journaling (yes - journaling!). About this journaling concept - society may be keeping tabs on life in 140 characters, but I applaud parents and educators who continue to teach children to think and write in complete sentences (that means a subject, verb and maybe an adjective). The app goes above and beyond the concept of a children's book in digital format. Embedded lesson plans offer activities designed to build an understanding of neuroanatomy, the brain's primary functions, and how to stretch and shape the brain to its full potential. I have a sneaking suspicion we could all use a refresher course in brain function, so parents and teachers might find this feature interesting as well. For $2.99, Your Fantastic Elastic Brain is available for iPad, and a bargain compared to years' worth of therapy sessions because your child blames you for inactive brain waves and a lack of ability to think, read or journal effectively. Go forth, young parents, and download.

I live in New York City, therefore I don't own a car. But once upon a time I zipped up and down the east coast, and I've met my fair share of lovely state troopers. I don't think they were pulling me over to chat about my bumper stickers. There was one incident in particular that I got very testy with a brutish man in khaki- I should have kept my mouth shut. This was before the iPhone was even invented, but it would have been great to have some evidence that I wasn't going that fast. According to TicketDefender, more than 100,000 drivers per day receive speeding tickets. Some experts estimate that 10-20% of all radar-backed speeding tickets are issued in error; and in the case of radar that is operated from a moving police vehicle the number of inaccurate tickets may be as high as 30%. Let's do the math: for every 100,000 drivers getting a speeding ticket, up to 30,000 people could receive a ticket in error. If you're one of those statistics with a lead foot, there's an app for that. For ease of use, TicketDefender gets an A+. Download the app - at $1.99 it's potentially much cheaper than an actual ticket. Name your car, type in your license plate, and turn on your iPhone as it rides shotgun. As you cruise down the highway, blasting your old-skool-road-trip mix and stuffing Cheetos in your face as you maneuver with one knee, the speed, time of day, and GPS location is automatically recorded with TicketDefender. If you get pulled over, you click the 'press when ticketed' button (while simultaneously reaching for the glove compartment for your hand gun, err, vehicle registration). The app generates reports more thorough than your monthly phone bill. Reports include the vehicle's make and model, license number, time and date of the recorded speed. The Speed Report shows the recorded speed every 3-5 seconds and the location in latitude and longitude. The Map Report shows the street view of all recorded speeds. If these reports show the speed indicated on your ticket is different from the speed shown on the TicketDefender reports, then you have a valid "not guilty" argument. But good luck pulling out your iPhone in front of a judge - he may just take the side of the state trooper over your gadget. So always remember to dress smart and act nice when confronted by The Law.

Full disclosure: I don't use Instagram and I'm not Pinterested. I say that because first impressions from friends about Via.me were that the site looks vaguely like Pinterest and the functionality of the app seems very Instagrammy. Because of this I went to check them out and there are indeed a lot of similarities between the Instagram and Via.me apps. Instagram though doesn't have a Web site of its own. And while Via.me's Web site does look similar to Pinterest, they are very different sites. It's more of an elegant combination of Pinterest and Instagram. Like Instagram, the Via.me app uses the built-in camera on your iPhone to record photos or video (you can also record sounds) and post them to your Via.me, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Like Instagram, it comes with a suite of fun filters you can apply to your photos, instantly transforming them into apparent works of art. Having studied photography in college and even spent a little pro time behind the lens, it piqued my interest, and as soon as I left work I began a photographic odyssey home to Jersey City. In Greeley Square, a block down from Macy's in Manhattan, I took my first photo and tried to post it to both Twitter and Facebook simultaneously. There I ran into a brief bit of trouble. Upon reopening, it helpfully asked me to report the crash, which I did. A few more fumbling tries and I posted my first pic to both Twitter and Facebook, with a complaint that it wasn't quite working right. A moment later, a notification popped up that a comment had been posted. "Hi Jonny - I work at Via.Me - what issues were you having? If you can email support@via.me they will be able to help you out!" I was not expecting that. Nor was I expecting the notifications that began to pour in as my photos were posting. People were starting to follow me. One test video and a few more photos on the train platform and in Jersey - each using a different filter - and I arrived home to find I had amassed a 17-person following already. Visually, the Web site is a lot like Pinterest, with a couple of major differences. Pinterest pics seem to be predominantly consumer items that when clicked on almost always lead to a page where you can purchase whatever it is you're looking at. Via.me pix take you to the next post in the member's profile, giving you the option to start following them. On Via.me I found a lot of personal photos, pics people liked and reposted - a portrait ofSteve Jobs was popular, as well as a series of quotes from a user named "Brotips," who posts such wonderful guy-oriented bon mots as "Brotip #1983: If she says she's into you, she probably is. If she says she isn't, she probably isn't. Don't dwell on that s#t." Click on it and you get another, then another and another. Want to share it? From the site you can share in just about any way imaginable, including to Pinterest, if you were so inclined. Ultimately, Via.me is a marvelous fusion of a creative app, a sharing tool and a Pinterest-like Web site. It is still early for Via.me, and it's always hard to say where these things will lead. But they have just released version 1.05, and no doubt further improvements are in the works. The creative results were impressive, and as for where it's headed - I woke up to a full screen of notifications in the morning - I now have 29 followers. I've only been using the app for about 16 hours. I'd say that is a good indication!

Look, I'm old school. I listen to hits from the 70s and 80s. I still like to read actual physical books, where you get the pleasure of turning pages, using bookmarks, and placing them on a shelf when you're finished. Most of all, I like to send and receive handwritten cards and letters. The personal touch means even more today, because, let's face it, it's so much easier to text "how r u?" (and add a smiley face). ThankYouPro will meet you halfway in your quest for the personal touch. Somewhat similar to the fairly basic Cards app by Apple, this app is also free, and lets you create high quality thank you notes, totally customizable on the front and inside. It costs $2.99 (or less) to have your card mailed anywhere in the world (in a professional envelope, first class, within 24 business hours). Very cool, very affordable and very easy. My favorite detail is adding your signature, which you create with your finger on the app's blank signature screen. Just choose your ink color and sign away, a personal touch which the Cards app doesn't offer. Love that! You can choose from among 20 or so template designs, or make the card truly unique with your own photos, or any image at all. Whether or not it takes the same amount of time to just write out and mail a physical card is arguable, but with ThankYouPro, all the cards and postage are conveniently in your pocket, ready to be sent instantly, anytime, from anywhere. If this is as personal as the future allows, we could do a lot worse!

The Official 2013 Appy Awards entry page is now open and ready for your best! Enter your app EARLY to Save up to 20% on the entry fees and give it its best chance to have its greatness recognized and fully appreciated in our weekly "Featured App of the Week" newsletter. Make sure you're part of the fun, competition and festivities - just use the button below to get started...

The second annual Appy Awards Finalists have just been announced. Fewer than 10 percent of Appy Awards submissions survive the first round to make the prestigious finalists list, from which our Jury re-evaluates the work to determine the 2012 Appy Winners. The app developers with the greatest number of submissions on this year's list of Finalists are The Daily, Big Fish Games, Appency, and Encyclopaedia Britannica, among many others. This year's Winners will be announced at the 2012 Appy Awards' "Get Appy" celebration party, scheduled for March 19, 2012 at 6:00PM at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis. The complete list of the 2012 Finalists is here. Join us as to celebrate this year's Winners and to rub shoulders with the year's top advertisers, marketers, agencies and app developers at the "Get Appy" party as we honor the BEST in app development and design. This exclusive awards celebration will bring together leading companies and their executives to celebrate the industry's winning work of 2012, paving the way for the coming year in the burgeoning App industry. To purchase your tickets, visit the registration page.

The second annual Appy Awards are getting close, and today we are happy to welcome all fifteen members of the 2012 Jury. Our newest additions are Macworld.com Lead Editor Philip Michaels and Mac|Life's Executive Editor Susie Ochs. We are very excited to have them join the Appy Awards Jury. The complete list of the 2012 Appy Awards Judges is here. The final extended deadline is Friday February 17th, so you still have time to submit your work for a chance to win an Appy this year, just visit the entry page before 8:00 PM Eastern this Friday!

Martha Stewart has long been my muse when it comes to the obsessive-compulsive organization of my kitchen drawers. I look to her for guidance on Halloween costumes, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas tree trimming and how to make a flag look cute on the Fourth of July. So with the swift dismissal of St. Valentine, I will now force my loved ones to get down and dirty with egg dying a la Martha Stewart and her team of creative bunnies - just in time for spring! Martha Stewart Living's Egg Dyeing 101 brings all of the elements of dyeing eggs into a clean, functional and attractive app. The gallery features 101 examples of eggs and techniques used, from dipping and marbleizing to decoupage and glitter. For those of you who never leave the office, you can dye eggs in a variety of innovative ways using rubber bands and stickers. If you're less inclined to utilize office supplies, try the finger painting technique which produces adorable lady bugs and flowers. This app offers much more than a gallery of "I could never achieve that" examples. The egg glossary provides some helpful hints if you are up to the challenge for dyeing duck or quail eggs. And Martha's busy bunnies even had the foresight to include a video demonstrating how to "blow out" an egg (hollow eggs have a longer shelf life than hard-cooked) so that you can reuse your creations for years to come. Martha Stewart Living partnered with McCormick, known for their spices and food dye, to create color wheels and dye recipes. Despite what you might believe, it is a science to know how many drops of yellow food coloring make bright yellow. The app is available for iPhone and iPad, and at just $.99, it provides extensive inspiration and ingenuity for egg dyeing professionals or girls who just want to have fun. Martha Stewart Living says this app was "made with families in mind," but I disagree. Not all users are mothers; some of us are just indulging in our arrested development. Or maybe they're the boyfriends who dropped the ball yesterday and need to make a quick, and ingenious, comeback. So guys - grab your eggs and blow.

After a record number of requests, we've decided to extend the deadline for you to enter your app to win a 2012 Appy Award. You now have an extra week - until Friday the 17th. Please note that Friday 2/17 will be the absolute final deadline - no additional extensions will be permitted. Make sure your app gets all the recognition and praise it deserves! To submit your app for consideration, just visit the Entry Page on or before Friday, 2/17 and fill out all the required info. Good luck!