milk *an advertising agency

App-etizing – The Best Cooking App

The app experts at Gizmodo have weighed in and Epicurious is their choice for best cooking app for both Apple and Android. It’s particularly useful for the iPad, which can prop up nicely on your prep station. It has a huge library of recipes from Bon Appetit, Gourmet, and other reputable sources and includes a shopping list tool and gorgeous photos. The Android also version features voice search and a recipe-of-the-day widget. We’re Macheads, so we’re including the link to the Apple app. Check it out.

Get Cash For Your Gadgets With Gazelle

Don’t recycle your old gadgets, ReCommerce them with Gazelle, the company that pays you for your old cell phones, laptops and other gadgets. Every item you send Gazelle gets a cash offer and it even sends you a box and pays for shipping. Gazelle extends the lives of items that still have value and responsibly recycles the gadgets that don’t. It’s simple. It’s safe. It’s one of our Green picks of the year. Check it out.

Vegas Calling – The $1,000,000 Phone

Vegas, baby! Vegas! Oh how we love thee. Where else can you find such over-the-top extravagance in a down economy? The designers at GRESSO teamed up with the Luxor to create the Luxor Las Vegas Jackpot phone, which can be yours for a cool Dr. Evil-ish one meeelion dollars. The phone case is pure gold and encrusted with black diamonds, and the back panel features 200-year-old African Blackwood. The keys are made from single sapphire crystals and the people who will buy the phone are made of money. Check it out.

Cool Mousepad, Mr. Lebowski - The MouseRug

Tired of using the mousepad that doubles as one of your vendors promo pieces? Check out MouseRugs. They really bring a desk together. They're made using a Lextra Fiber Graphics process that creates a richly-textured surface--with over seven million individual fibers per MouseRug. They also make WristRugs for your laptop. Do you abide? Check it out.

Cluster-F – CrunchPad is Dead

Two weeks prior to launch and the CrunchPad is dead. If you don’t know what CrunchPad is you may have wanted to. Hell, Joe went into a fetal position when he heard the news. We think he’s still under his desk. You see, Joe’s a gadget guy and he wanted to get his hands on this low cost tablet PC designed for web surfing. It looked like a really big iPhone. But as often happens greed and jealousy got in the way. So no CrunchPad…for now. They were too close. We have a feeling we’ll see something similar in the not too distant future. Check it out.

For Your APP-etite

Sorry about the headline. Couldn’t resist. But here are five commuter friendly iPhone apps to try (especially if you’re buzzing around town on your new BRAMMO Enertia). Bike Your Drive is a free app that allows bike commuters to calculate things like how far they’ve biked, how many calories they’ve burned and how much gas money they’ve saved. Transit Maps allows you to store any transit map on your phone. Aha provides real-time traffic info and location searches and even lets you share real-time info with other drivers on the network. Zipcar is a free app that makes being a member of this unique car rental company a snap. You can choose a car to rent, reserve it and even turn it on using your iPhone. Finally, Maps + Compass is a standard app that will help you select the best routes no matter what your mode of travel is. Its bus feature even tells you when the bus will arrive. Check them out. And happy travels!

Just Be Cause – ActOfGood.org

By now you know of our work with 1000computers.org, the charity that sends used computers to schoolchildren in Africa. You can check it out here. You can also find other worthy organizations at ActOfGood.org, the site that “connects causes with the people that care about them.” The site is in BETA, so some categories like Arts & Culture are still empty, but it’s well designed, user friendly and created by people who want to make the world a better place. Check it out.

Never Forget Anything Again

Are you forgetting something? If you are, you have no excuse for it, because thanks to the power of the Internet and mobile devices nothing should slip your mind ever again. No kidding -- everywhere you look there is a new site or app that allows you to remind yourself about, well, everything. For example, Bitbom allows you to schedule free text message reminders to your phone, and Jott is a simple and convenient mobile service for leaving yourself notes and ToDo reminders. Don’t want to forget that important email? TeleFlip will let you auto-forward your emails to your phone as text messages, and Flurry enables you to follow up on your emails and even receive latest articles from favorite blogs/websites on your mobile. Just don't forget that you read about it all here.

Files Go in the Trash, Not Computers – 1000computers.org

We banged on this back in May of last year, but it’s never a bad time to remind you that millions of computers end up in landfills each year where their highly toxic materials leak into the groundwater and produce carcinogens. So why not donate your unused computers to 1000computers.org. They’ll give them to children in developing countries who use them to build better lives. It’s that simple – and easily achievable. You help collect just 1,000 computers, and they help hopeful countries to begin creating a critical mass of computer skill and an economic link to the rest of the world. Check it out.

Can’t Wait for the Mouse Doily – The Keyboard Napkin

Keep those crumbs out of your keyboard. Save you control key from your greasy digits. Block your PowerBook from your Red Bull. Yes, do it all with the Keyboard Napkin. It’s just a concept for now, but we’re keeping our Cheeto covered fingers crossed that it goes into production.