Although we have seen few cooking iPad apps in the past, Cookineo seems to have a real compelling offering to get its slice of the market. There are few reasons for this:

• Recipes are illustrated with step by step instructions with a very few words.
• Navigation through the steps of the recipe is done by clapping hands and without touching the screen. Very cool!
• A pictorial summary in order to access data only in case of blackouts.
• Amounts calculated by the number of guests.
• An indicator "4 square balance nutrition" makes allowances for choice and reminds you to balance your diet over time.
• Converter of menu into a shopping list to avoid any forgotten ingredient.
• Ability to email and print a shopping list.

Cookineo is available as a free download and includes 25 recipes. Additional 75 recipes could be bought via in-app purchase for $5.99 or $0.99 for 5 recipes. iPhone version with 120 recipes is also available and could be yours for $0.99

Capacitive displays are great but gloves are their kryptonite and lets face it, in the winter months using gloves is quite common. The thing about capacitive displays is that they react to skin contact and while your fingers are probably wrapped up in warm gloves, your nose is not. Thats right, if you have an iPhone and a nose handy, there is a solution to your gloved-dialing problems.

The app called NoseDial features a large, customizable UI, which makes it easy to operate with your decidedly un-dexterous nose. You have the option to scroll through the contact list by just tilting the iPhone and then tap the desired contact with your nose, minimizing the chance you’ll get strange looks by passersby.

The app supports difficulty levels so you can start off easily or just set it to the most difficult mode and use it with your fingers, if you like the skinnable UI with contact photos. The app costs $0.99 and is compatible with iOS 3.2 and higher.

We are in the holiday season and you may be thinking what to buy to your men friends, colleagues and/or relatives. According to the survey conducted by MobileSquared and apps developer PacketVideo, that could be the gift for men with smartphones.

The research has found out that almost 8 million of smartphone users in the UK currently use a mobile application every day. As a matter of fact, such is the popularity of the mobile app that it seems to have made the north and south divide a thing of the past with both regions featuring similar numbers of app users The poor cousin of the UK apps map appears to be the Midlands where usage is 38% lower than its closest neighbors.

There are more than 19 million smartphones in the UK today, and that figure is set to grow over 34 million by 2012. iPhone is leading the way this year, but it set to be overtaken by Android by 2012.

PacketVideo Angela Scheller commented on the mobile app usage: "Users are demanding more from their mobile apps as they become more savvy in their usage, so its important that they provide them with functionality and integration into their everyday activities. Applications that are gimmicky simply won’t be used more than once in their lifetime."