Conference calls always sound great in theory, collecting people from different parts of the world together for real-time collaboration and important updates. However, in reality you're left missing scheduled calls, shouting at your phone and trying to reconnect to the call after you've already been disconnected 5,686 times.

Now a new app launched today by RIM call BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing aims to make the dreaded conference call a little bit easier.

Firstly, the app takes all of your conference call details and converts them into a simple 'Join Now' button, this means you don't need to rummage around for codes and dial-in details, you just start chatting straight away.

If you get disconnected from a call (why does that always happen during the most important ones?!) the app displays a 'Reconnect' button, which will quickly dial you back in with just a single click.

There are also a range of other features, like BlackBerry calendar syncing to ensure you only schedule calls when you and your contacts are free and optimal conference call number selection for those dialling in from different regions.

The Mobile Conferencing app probably won't be used by your average consumer, but if you're one of the many people who depends on their beloved BlackBerry day in and day out for work purposes it could be a godsend.

The app is (obviously) only available to BlackBerry users and it's free from the App World.

The Path mobile application was re-launched back in December as Path 2 and has since become increasingly popular among iPhone users. It's meant to be a simple way to share key moments of your life, through photos, videos, thoughts and locations. According to the website, you should think of it as a personal journal or "path" through your life. That admittedly all sounds a bit twee, but it's a much nicer way of putting it than a rather clinical timeline (we're looking at you Facebook, obviously). However, the thing that most users have found so appealing about Path, is that you only share all of this information with up to 150 friends, making it feel a little more personal than the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

Everything seemed to be going so well for Path until today, as it's been revealed that Path 2 has been uploading your personal details and contact information from your address book onto its servers. Oops.

According to CultofMac, a developer called Arun Thampi recently realised all of his contacts were being sent to the Path servers:

"I noticed that my entire address book (including full names, emails and phone numbers) was being sent as a plist to Path. Now I don't remember having given permission to Path to access my address book and send its contents to its servers, so I created a completely new "Path" and repeated the experiment and I got the same result - my address book was in Path's hands."

Path contacted Thampi and said:

"We upload the address book to our servers in order to help the user find and connect to their friends and family on Path quickly and effeciently as well as to notify them when friends and family join Path. Nothing more."

OK, that makes sense. But why wasn't anyone asked first?! I don't have any huge issue with an app seeing my contacts like many others seem to, but it would have been so much better in the long run to ask users to opt-in before they went fishing around in all of our private stuff.

There's probably no need to point out the irony that a fairly closed and private social network like Path has been taking our personal data...

[Via CultofMac]

It seems we all spent a huge chunk of January pinning photos of lovely scenery, beautiful faces and things we want onto the increasingly popular website, Pinterest. However, we've all been so busy re-pinning kitten photos during work hours that we haven't really given the site's brilliant iPhone app the time it really deserves...

As Pinterest depends so much on large, high quality visuals, you may think shrinking that experience down to a mobile screen would really suck the fun out of it. However, the Pinterest app manages to bring you a really intuitive interface, simple navigation tools and most importantly, great looking photos all on your iPhone, or even better your iPad.

Navigation

The app takes the site's layout and brings it to a smaller screen with a simple menu along the bottom allowing you to see the pins of those you're 'following', 'explore' pins from the big wide world of Pinterest and pick from a range of categories to browse, view your personal 'activity' or just go look at how pretty your 'profile' looks. There's also an option to share photos from your phone, or take one straight away, and add it to one of your boards.

Images and Interaction

To make up for the fact you're viewing everything on a much smaller screen, when you browse photos in the 'following' and 'explore' tabs each one takes up the width of the screen and you scroll up and down as apposed to seeing everything in a grid format. This way you can see the images in much more detail and actions like 'repin', 'like' and 'comment' are much much easier to use. Just like on the website you can tap on a photo to see its original source too, a great feature we're really happy to see in the mobile version.

The 'profile' tab will still bring all of your pins up in a grid-like format, which makes sense if all you want to do is have a quick browse through all your images and not really engage with anyone else or repin an image.

Best bits

The design of the app is really clean and simple, very much like the website, which is great given there's so little room to play with on a mobile screen.

Our favourite element of the app has to be the 'explore' tab, which allows you to fall into the rabbit hole that is Pinterest and browse through tonnes of different categories infinitely. No more boring commutes for us...

Available from iTunes for free.

Related: All you need to know about how to get started with Pinterest

We've written about our love for blogging platform Jux a few times in the past, but have often felt it needs just a little bit more work before it's going to replace the likes of Tumblr and even Wordpress further down the line.

So, it's pretty exciting that Jux has this week announced it'll be hooking up with Instagram to allow users to share their blurry, retro shots alongside images from the likes of Facebook and Flickr too.

The main thing we love about Jux is that it makes our images look AMAZING. They're displayed in a fancy grid-like layout, can be swiped and moved around easily and take up the whole screen. So, it makes sense that Jux would team up with an awesome photo editing tool to make our photos and blogs look even slicker.

We love Instagram here at Shiny Shiny, we love writing about it, talking about it and sharing our silly snaps with our followers. But how far is too far when it comes to Instagram merchandise? Well, we think decorating your house with retro shots of food is about as much as we can take.

New service Stitchtagram (see what they did there?!) makes custom handmade cushions from your cheesy Instagram snaps. You get to pick which ones are used with the company's handy layout tool and then they're printed at Stitchtagram HQ in the US.

Yeah, it sounds OK in theory and there's all kinds of merchandise you can have your photos printed onto already, like mugs, stickers, iPhone cases and other things you're highly likely never to use. But, there's just something about Instagram pillows that seems a little OTT. Maybe if you're really talented when it comes to mobile snaps and your the results look fairly professional you could get away with photographic furnishings, but until then no one wants to visit a house with grainy shots of cats, food and quirky street grafitti dotted around. Do they?!

If you think your life wouldn't be complete without carefully selected Instagram shots on soft furnishings then check out Stitchtagram.

[Image via Stitchtagram]

We've always been able to share our Instagram snaps through to our Facebook friends once we've taken them, edited them and added a caption to them. But according to the Instagram blog, from today users will now notice much better integration with the social network, including a dedicated photo album and bigger images.

Before, Facebook photos just seemed to be thrown into our profiles with little thought of how they'd look or where they'd get stored. If you choose to share through to Facebook now, your image will appear much bigger than before along with the caption you've added and a link to its public URL.

There are also better sharing features, so simply click "share" under a friend's Instagram image and you can paste it onto your own timeline, to a friend, a group or into a message.

Most importantly, there's now a dedicated album for Instagram photos where they'll go to live. We always found it strange that they didn't get saved anywhere, so we even set up an ifttt.com rule to combat the problem!

And finally, you really need to activate the new Facebook timeline to make your Instagram photos look extra specially good. So, if you've been holding off up until now, just go bite the bullet, you won't regret it if you're into mobile photography.

Tip: To find out how to add Instagram photos you've already shared into the new album, check out this guide from Instagram's support centre.

We've written about our love for quirky and (relatively) new blogging platform Jux a few times in the past. We even made it fight Tumblr and it won! So today we thought we'd let you know just how amazing Jux now looks on the iPhone.

Regardless of the device you're using, Jux has always centered on big, lovely images that you can easily flick through. However, recent developments and tweaks to Jux on the iPhone means browsing, uploading and editing posts is easier and slicker than ever and content looks like the Flipboard-style apps we're becoming more and more accustomed to.

It seems as if there are also plans for a dedicated app and more social features in Jux's future too, judging from this strange email from the development team:

"What's next? Mobile upload? You bet. Android? Sure. Native apps? Yes, in some way, shape. But, first, Jux plans to bring you sophisticated new creative & social options ... yum."

It'll be interesting to see how Jux continues to fare against stiff competition from blogging platforms and other image-based services, like Pinterest and GetVega (which we reviewed yesterday), but for now it's one of our favourite places for browsing interesting photos and quirky content.

Yesterday US President Barack Obama went and got himself an Instagram account (or at least his team got one for him). In an official blog post about him, the Instagram team writes that the social network will become an interesting place in the run-up to the 2012 Presidential Election, with news organisations like NBC News and The Washington Post already sharing a behind-the-scenes peak at debates across the country. It's really fascinating that a photo-sharing app and social network used to showcase photos of cats and food can also be a useful tool in the run up to important political events. As if you needed another excuse to start using it more?!

So here's our list of five (relatively new) newbies that are worth following:

1. Barack Obama

The US president signed up for an Instagram account yesterday and already has more than 10,000 followers. We're expecting big things from Team Obama and can't wait to see how they utilise Instagram over the next year.

Follow: @barackobama

2. Zooey Deschanel

Quirky American actress, funny girl and singer/song-writer Zooey Deschanel joined Instagram late last year and has since shared a number of cute and hilarious photos of her personal life, her nails and the other celebrities she meets. We just want her face/hair/job/talent now please.

Follow: @zooeydeschanel

3. Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany's shares the kind of beautiful and dreamy photos you'd expect from the iconic jewellery brand, with some product promotion, plenty of behind-the-scenes snaps and lots of lovely festive photos from over Christmas.

Follow: @tiffanyandco

4. Justin Bieber

We know, we know, he definitely shouldn't be in the same list as the US President but if you happen to be a huge Bieber fan then you'll love following his Instagram feed for personal photos and behind-the-scenes shots. There's obviously plenty of cheesy promotional stuff thrown in there for good measure too.

Follow: @justinbieber

5. Jamie Oliver

Another celebrity who may not be everyone's cup of tea, but does regularly update Instagram with lovely, personal and very well-taken photos.

Follow: @jamieoliver

For more well-known users, check out Instagram's Notable Users Directory, it may be a bit US-centric but it's a pretty interesting and comprehensive list.

Back in 1912, the publishers behind The Sunday Times decided not to release an edition of the paper on Christmas Day to give paperboys the day off. But oh how times have changed!

Now that the paper can be delivered directly to your tablet device or computer, The Sunday Times team has decided to release an edition on Christmas Day and to celebrate will make it free for everyone. Just look at that for Christmas spirit!

The exclusive online Christmas Day edition will be available to all Android tablet and iPad users and is set to feature the usual boring bits, like the global news, but will also have interactive quizzes, a collection of cartoons that defined 2011, big photo galleries of festive celebrations around the world and a few other surprises.

Now we do begrudge the fact that for the rest of the year we have to pay for a sneak peek at The Sunday Times' content, but we never like to turn down a freebie.

Available from iTunes and the Android Market.

The British Journal of Photography (BJP) is considered to be the top publication for contemporary photography news from across the globe and it's recently launched an app, which brings quality editorial and huge, creative images to your iPad.

The reason we love the BJP app so much is because it's not just a copy of the print publication squeezed into tablet format, it's been specially tailored to really make the most of the iPad's functionality and display.

It allows you to swipe through content with ease, making use of the iPad's intuitive navigational tools and it also displays the incredible photography in a way that really draws you in and fills up the screen. If you think we're being too over the top, just take a look for yourself, it really is "ooo" and "ahh" kind of stuff.

When it comes to the content there's a big mix of features, articles, interviews with key players in the industry, videos and big photo galleries. There's the odd review of photography gear too, but it's certainly not a consumer-y "go buy this neat digital camera" kind of magazine.

In an interview on the publication's website, Simon Bainbridge, the editor of BJP talks about the new app:

"Our idea was not to completely re-imagine a magazine, as some people say they want to. We wanted to translate the elegance and authority and intelligence of our magazine on a digital screen, to be able to show moving images, and to have something that is navigationally intuitive and fun to play with. But we didn't want to do anything too tricksy that took away from the content."

The app is ideal if you need a break from reading emails and playing Angry Birds on your iPad and want to swipe through beautiful, cutting-edge images that are a real treat for your eyes. Be warned though, although the app is free and you get bit and pieces of content for free too, you will have to purchase future issues of the publication separately (for around £6.99) or think about getting a subscription. Only true photographer fans should start downloading.

Available from iTunes for free.

Apps are brilliant little things aren't they?! They tell us where we are, what's going on, let us take great photos, save money and shop with ease. However, for every great app out there we can guarantee there are 10 that are stupid, pointless and just plain weird available for oddballs to download too.

So although there was plenty of choice, we've picked out what we consider to be the weirdest, creepiest and stupidest apps of 2011, whether you want to find out who died around you, use your phone as a vibrator or find out more about your girlfriend's period, we've got you covered.

We collected together our 10 favourite Christmas apps for kids back in November, but we've been on the look out for more ever since and may have found the most addictive yet.

Santa's Sleigh Ride looks a little basic at first, but then ten minutes after thinking it's far too child-like you realise you've played it 60 times and you're obsessed with beating your last score.

It's just a simple running game, tap santa and Rudolph so they jump over Christmas puddings and other festive obstacles and then tap them twice to jump over trees and snowmen. The simple mechanic makes it ideal for all ages, so it's a good one when little relatives won't calm down, just give them your iPhone or iPad and you'll have a big of peace and quiet!

It's not a ground-breaking app, but it will keep you amused in the run up to Christmas and the bright graphics and jolly music will leave you feeling very festive.

If you decide to buy Santa's Sleigh Ride, 15% of proceeds will go to the Action Duchenne charity, which campaigns for research and treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

Available from iTunes for 69p.

It may seem like a strange choice of present, but there are some mobile apps available on iTunes that really would make great gifts this Christmas (look at our list below if you're not convinced). Now we're not saying you get your boyfriend (or husband, girlfriend, etc...) an app when they're planning on buying you an all-inclusive holiday abroad or something equally fancy, but it'd make a great, last minute 'stocking filler' for that special someone or it could just be a nice little festive token for one of your friends.

How do you give an app as a gift?

It's pretty simple.

1. Go to iTunes and find the app you want to give as a gift.
2. Go to the arrow next to the price button and click 'Gift This App'.
3. The green 'Give a Gift' screen will then appear and ask you for more information.
4. Fill everything in (like the delivery method, etc) and click 'Continue'.
5. You'll then be asked to enter your iTunes details and if it all looks correct click 'Buy Gift'.
6. You'll know that everything is done and dusted if you see the 'Thank You' screen, where you'll just click 'Done' or 'Gift Again'.

Which apps would make good gifts?

Djay

Now don't let the rather cheesy name of the app put you off, Djay is an advanced turntable and mixer application which actually works. It stands out from similar offerings on the market because you can split tracks using Griffin's DJ Cable, which means you can play tracks at the same time but hear them each in isolation.

Available from iTunes for £13.99 (you'll need Griffin's DJ Cable to go with it too).

iVIP Black

Now before you get too excited about this app, we're going to warn you that its called 'the Millionaire's app', because it gives you access to exclusive rates, priority access to events, surprise gifts and upgrades that you'd still have to be absolutely loaded to take advantage of.

Available from iTunes for £699.99. Yes that's right, an app that's the same amount as some people's monthly wage. Eugh.

Batman Arkham City Lockdown

The version of the popular video game Batman Arkham City, specially for iOS devices.

Available from iTunes for £3.99.

Golfshot: Golf GPS

Like your own personal caddy within your phone, the Golfshot app uses GPS to track distances, keep score, monitor your performance and set goals. Ideal for budding golfers who take their sport/hobby rather seriously.

Available from iTunes for £20.99.

Oxford Deluxe

This may seem like a boring one, but it'd make an ideal companion for english students.

Available from iTunes for £37.99.

If a quirky little sharing app called Path rings a bell that's because it launched in November of last year. In fact, search within the depths of your phone, you may have even already signed up to it and then quickly forgotten about it moments later.

Well it seems you weren't alone, some have been using it obsessively but many jumped on the band wagon and haven't touched it since. Until now that is.

So what is it?

Path is an application, but it's also like a social network too, you just can't do everything from the web, a little like Instagram.

It's meant to be a simple way to share key moments of your life, through photos, videos, thoughts and locations. According to the website, you should think of it as a personal journal or "path" through your life. That admittedly all sounds a bit twee, but it's a much nicer way of putting it than a rather clinical timeline (we're looking at you Facebook, obviously).

What makes it different?

Most of the social networks we use at the moment are obsessed with making us share everything with everyone, but Path is different in that it wants you to only share important things with a select few.

Obviously there's a way to share content through to other networks too if you'd like, which isn't the aim of the app, but is a useful addition as it might ease people slowly into the world of Path.

Interestingly, you don't just comment and like either, there are a few emotions, like smile, gasp and frown to play around with. We're not sure whether we love or hate this idea quite yet.

Although you can share other kinds of content, Path is very image focused. You can add a cover photo at the top of your path too, a bit like your Facebook timeline and you can add filters to your photos too, ideal for Instagram lovers.

Why should we care?

Although Path has been around a while, it's recently been re-launched and revamped as Path 2, which changed its focus from just sharing photos to sharing everything. According to Techcrunch, since the relaunch the app has gone from 10K to 300K users in two and a half weeks. Now that's a feat and proves that Path has certainly caught a lot of people's attention.

Who needs Path?

Path isn't going to be a replacement for Facebook, but it could definitely have a lot of potential and it's good to see a social network focused on being social with those that matter, not just anyone and everyone.

The great thing about Path is we don't imagine it'll be the same for every user or even every group of friends, people will undoubtedly start using it in different ways, which will be really interesting to watch develop.

Available for both iPhone and Android devices for free.

My Note Games is a new application, which teaches users how to play (or sing) a range of different songs from an iPhone or iPad.

However, instead of just displaying notes on the screen or giving users basic lessons like many other musical apps, My Note Games uses a cool kind of sound recognition technology (just like Singstar), so it knows if you've hit the right note. It then gives you a badge if you've done well or tells you how you could improve if you don't get it quite right first time.

It's officially called an educational music app for kids, but it's also got fun carols added into the mix for Christmas and would help adults too if they don't find the bright and simple interface too patronising.

The great thing about My Note Games is that it isn't just about teaching children one or two songs, but it's focused on helping them to understand music theory too, which is much more valuable and a great way of accompanying professional lessons.

My Note Games currently supports a range of different instruments, like the piano, guitar, recorder, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and trumpet. It also offers limited support for violin, viola, cello, voice and even whistling.

At the moment My Note Games is free, but to access different levels and more complicated lessons you do have to part with some pennies, so try it out for a few weeks first to see if you and your kids think it's worth it.

Available from iTunes for free.

If you've got something to share with your significant other you'd usually text them, email them or DM them on Twitter, right? Well, a new app and social network called Between wants to give you a special little virtual place to cosy up to your girl/boy instead of having to contact them through other channels. It sounds kind of sweet, but is it also utterly pointless?

Between is what you'd imagine, like a mini Facebook just for you and your partner where you can share content, photo albums and memories (awh), all you need to do is enter their phone number into the app and you can start sharing.

According to The Next Web, the minds behind Between are mainly targeting Asian users, who (judging from behaviour on social networks) are a little more uncomfortable about sharing personal details online than us party-loving Brits. Therefore the app has been released in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean in recent months. And, although it may seem very twee and stupid to some people, the 62,000 who have downloaded it and are actively using it worldwide would probably disagree.

It kind of makes sense that an app which encourages couples to communicate more would be healthy for modern day relationships, after all if women's glossy magazines are anything to go by (probably not), lack of communication is one of the main reasons happy couples break up. However, if you're already content with emailing, texting, DMing, Facetiming, Skyping or calling (we could go on and on here) your significant other, then we're not sure Between will crowbar its way into your daily routine.

Between is available from both iTunes and the Android Market for free.

[Via The Next Web]

As Christmas is fast approaching and many of us intend to embark on frantic journeys across the country to visit loved ones, it seemed only right we include an app that allows users to book hotels and last-minute accommodation from their mobile phones.

The app from Hotels.com is a handy way to book hotels on the go, whether you want to stay over somewhere between visits or just escape from annoying extended family for a night.

The app contains more than 140,000 hotels worldwide, so you're bound to find something fairly close to where you want to stay. The app can either work with your current location, or you can enter a city if you're not at your destination quite yet. It's not just about finding accommodation either, if you've already made reservations you can control everything from within the app too, so all your details are safe and stored, which is ideal if you're travelling without a laptop.

The thing we like most about the Hotels.com app is that it isn't just full of normal accommodation and pricing details, but it's got sections for customer reviews, photos and plenty of extra details about the hotels too, so even though you may be in a rush you can make the most informed decision. There are also rewards and deals sections available exclusively to mobile users, so regardless of whether it's Christmas or not, if you travel regularly throughout the year it'd be worth getting the app so you don't miss out on any offers.

Available for free from iTunes and the Android Market.

Last week Facebook officially rolled out its new Timeline feature to all of its users, allowing them to opt in, sort through their content and then publish the lovely little stories of their lives once they're ready for the world to see them.

At the same time, the official Facebook blog announced that the new Timeline features would be coming to Facebook's mobile site, m.facebook.com as well as Android devices. However, Apple fans have had to wait a few more days, as only tonight has the Facebook app been updated to give iPhone users shiny new Timeline functionality too. Of course you still need to have published your Timeline from the web version of Facebook, but once that's activated you can now enjoy the slicker, prettier and much more revealing Timeline look on your phone as well.

Although an iPhone update for the Facebook app has been released this evening, there's no news on when iPad users can see it too, but we imagine it'll be on its way in the next few days.

We've come across all kinds of apps in the past year or so that aggregate important content from news sites, blogs and publications as well as your own social networks. Now a new application called Scoop.it (which works with the Scoop.it web service) allows you to curate your own digital magazine instead of reading the content from other sites and blogs.

Users can collect content from around the web based on specific topics or interests and then publish it in a magazine-like format to be saved, shared and read elsewhere.

There are similar apps that let you do the same kind of thing, such as deciding on different streams with Taptu, but this is the only app we've seen that lets you then go on to create/curate your own digital magazine, which can then be shared with others after.

It seems a bit strange that the intro video to Scoop.it suggests that because the web is such a crowded place, instead of creating our own content we should maybe just curate what's already out there. This begs the question, is it OK to be collecting together other people's work in our own magazine, even if we credit them? It's a nice idea in theory and would be good for those who want to just read and use the magazines they've created themselves, but there are much better ways of collecting together bits and pieces from the web that interest you without it looking a bit too much like you're ripping other people off.

Available from iTunes for free.

[Via Techcrunch]

If you dare to venture out into the savage wilderness that is the UK high street at this time of year then you'll be in for a treat, smacked in the head by bargain hunting old women, elbow barged by angry mums with all of their kinds in tow and then forced to stand in a queue for what feels like weeks.

It's no surprise that many of us (most of us actually) have chosen to do our Christmas shopping online this year, but which apps are out there to help us find the best gifts quickly, easily and safely?

But remember: Before you start downloading, clicking and buying make sure you're going to get your gifts in time for Christmas.