iPhone News Updated

App Smart Extra: Cook’s Illustrated for the iPhone

Last week’s App Smart column points out some of the best apps for dessert lovers.

One iPhone app, Cook’s Illustrated, didn’t make the cut, but not because of quality issues. In fact, I found the app more useful than almost any of the ones I tried.

It’s just that Cook’s is a little complicated.

The app is produced by America’s Test Kitchen, which publishes Cook’s Illustrated and acts as the cooking industry’s advertising-free answer to Consumer Reports.

The organization takes cooking seriously, and its recipes have earned a spot in my family’s regular food rotation. (See: pancakes; chocolate chip cookies.)

You can test the app for free and gain access to 50 recipes the publication has deemed its “all-time best,” along with video demonstrations and other ancillary content.

That alone should be enough to justify a download. But things get more complicated, and expensive, if you want to dig deeper.

For full mobile access to the organization’s recipe vault, you must first buy a magazine subscription, which is $25 annually (for six issues).

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T-Mobile gets two new 4G phones

T-Mobile isn’t just sitting by the sidelines while AT&T tries to win approval for its controversial buyout.

Instead, it’s business as usual for the carrier as it just announced two new handsets slated to launch on the company’s 4G HSPA+ 42 network.

“Our research shows almost every U.S. consumer wants a smartphone,” said T-Mobile chief marketing officer Cole Brodman at the GigaOM Mobilize mobile conference this week.

To appeal to that wide market, the service provider will launch the Samsung Galaxy S II and the HTC Amaze 4G on October 12.

T-Mobile’s 4G network is similar to the pseudo-4G network originally offered by AT&T, but the difference is T-Mobile has actually worked to strengthen the technology and offer speeds that are competitive with rivals like Sprint.

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