iPhone Approll

I'm not a pet owner anymore (it's a long and painful story; please don't ask!), but as I have written about a First Aid app for humans, it's only fair I write about one designed with animals in mind. (OK, I admit it, secretly I also want to make sure I remain on PETA's favorite list).

(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

The app's name is (you guessed it!) Pet First Aid. It works with both the iPhone and iPod Touch and is a product of PetTech of Vacaville and JiveMedia (which is the same company that wrote the First Aid app for humans).

It's basically a quick manual that teaches you to take care of your dogs and cats. Topics range from daily mishaps like choking or scratches to common diseases and how to safely transport pets.

The app also has a section where you can store pets' medical data, as well as record their vaccinations, veterinarian contact info, allergies, and so on.

You can learn from detailed articles, video, and step-by-step illustrations that show exactly what to do when caring for your pet. The video section of the app includes tutorials on restraint, muzzling, CPR, bandaging, and the like. The best thing about this is all content is downloaded on your phone, meaning you can learn about this even when offline, a useful pastime for your long flight, for example.

I tried the app on my iPhone 3GS and found it very informative, with easy-to-follow instructions. Now I wish I had this when I was still a happy, allergy-free pet owner...

Unfortunately, caring for your pet never comes free. The Pet First Aid app costs $3.99 at Apple's App Store, the same amount as the similar app for humans. At least in this regard, human and animals are treated equally for once.

You're obviously incredibly fortunate if you are helped in a life-or-death situation, but being on the giving end of such emergencies is very satisfying, too. Now, with Pocket First Aid & CPR, you can make sure to be ready the next time you are called upon to save someone.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

Pocket First Aid & CPR was created by the American Heart Association in collaboration with Jive Media.

It's is a 65MB application (so make sure you install it via iTunes or a Wi-Fi connection) that features hundreds of pages of text and illustrations, with topics ranging from CPR and choking to bites, bruises, burns, seizures, and diabetic emergencies.

The app also features detailed and high-quality video demonstrations showing how to respond in critical first-aid situations. These include instructions for taking care of someone who is choking, giving CPR, responding to seizures, and treating cuts and wounds.

I personally like the section about choking and breathing problems, as those are common emergencies that require immediate assistance.

It's important to note that the application is not designed to be used in an emergency, but rather is something for you to study during idle time. Unlike the Human Atlas app that requires an active Internet connection to use, Pocket First Aid & CPR works completely offline, thus making it a useful time-killer during a long flight.

The app also comes with a section in which you can enter personal medical information, such as emergency contacts, allergies, current medications, and insurance information, for quick access in an emergency. The information is stored on your individual phone only and is deleted if the application is removed from the phone.

Pocket First Aid & CPR works with iPhones and iPod Touches and is available at Apple's App Store for $3.99. That price will be entirely justified the first time you are able to take the lessons in this app and successfully apply them. Saving a life: priceless.

FretSurfer helps novice guitarists hone their note recognition skills. It's perfect for hacks like me, but it didn't make the cut for our top five list of iPhone guitar tools.

Guitarists are typically a pretty hesitant bunch when it comes to adopting new tech. In fact, most guitarists I know spend their time lusting after vintage guitars and vacuum tube amps--casting disdainful sneers at anything that looks as though it were invented after 1980.

That said, the majority of my musician friends are also iPhone owners. Their excuse for allowing a smartphone into their otherwise low-tech lifestyle is that they want to stay connected with their fans via e-mail, SMS, Twitter, or whatever app of the month might help them promote their music and their shows.

If you're a guitarist with an iPhone or iPod Touch, you may be interested to know that there's a handful of helpful apps out there made just for you. Useful tools such as chord finders, guitar tuners, multitrack recorders, and scale libraries, can all be had for just a few bucks.

To get a sense of some of the better iPhone apps on offer for guitar players, we've put together a roundup of five of our faves.

Top 5 iPhone guitar tools roundup

The B&N Bookstore app lets you read book reviews.

(Credit: Barnes & Noble)

Barnes & Noble has joined the iPhone app generation. The world's largest bookstore announced on Monday its B&N Bookstore app, which is available for both the iPhone and iPod Touch. Among other things, users can browse books and reviews, and find store event information.

One of the first big brick-and-mortar retailers to create an iPhone app, Barnes & Noble partnered with LinkMe Mobile and Spotlight Mobile to design phone-friendly features.

One of them lets users snap a photo of a book cover, which then links to more information about the book. Although this seems a bit redundant--since to take a photo of a book you'll have to have it in hand--it could prove helpful in quickly scanning a friend's book collection and later reading reviews, synopses, and the like. Yes, you could do that with a Google search, but a photo couldn't hurt, right?

The app also includes a store locator, recommendations on other books that might appeal, a store events calendar, online purchasing, and video clips of interviews with authors.

Other apps for bookworms include Amazon Mobile, which lets users search, shop and read reviews; SnapTell, which, like the B&N Bookstore app, lets users take a picture of a book cover and get information on the book; and BookBargin, which compares prices of books at different online stores. These apps and the B&N Bookstore app are free.

Barnes & Noble's president, William Lynch, said the company decided to create an app based on an increase in the store's mobile traffic.

If you haven't figured this out already, I'm a serious airline geek. Yes, I'm the kind of person who keeps track of all his flights and I can identify planes as they taxi by at the airport. Want to know which airlines flies nonstop between San Francisco and Sydney? Well, I can tell you (United and Qantas). Some would call it an obsession, but I think that it's just an interest.

Airport Status

If you're like me, you'll be delighted to know that the iPhone App store has quite a few options to indulge your passion. Without ever leaving your iPhone, you can check for delays, find the best seat on your flight, learn facts about your aircraft, and find your departure gate at the airport.

The following is a list of apps that I've used on CNET's iPhone. When I'm not using them just for fun--like I said, it's an interest--they have come in handy quite a few times. The titles that I've highlighted below aren't the only such apps available, but they are the ones that I've used. If you have other picks, be sure to tell me about them below.

Airport Status
99 cents

This app won't show delays for specific flights, but it will show general delays affecting U.S. airports. This is especially useful when your home airport is San Francisco International--due to low clouds it often suffers from "ground stops" where flights are held at their departure airport until the weather improves. Newark Liberty is another airport that's constantly on here. New Yorkers and Jerseyites, take note. ... Read more