Welcome and First Pick

Welcome to the blog.

Here you will find reviews of the best (free) apps for the iPhone. Without further ado, our first application pick is the Zen Jar and the Zen Jar's free version.

The Zen Jar provides a medium for the anonymous exchange of ideas amongst its users. Initially, a user taps the Compose control to write a message. The message can be anything at all, but usually takes the form of a question or short statement. Just for the sake of example, I'll write "Anonymous exchange promotes rapid development of ideas." After the message is written, it is put in the Zen Jar for someone to read and optionally send back a reply. Replies pop up as they're received (provided a message is not being composed). It seems there's some rate limiting, but not too much to detract from the app.

My message got one reply:
"Very good point!"

Next to the Compose control is the Receive control. This control retrieves someone else's message from the Jar. Once a message is retrieved, there's the option to either return back to the jar or reply, which is accomplished by tapping on the message, adding a bit at the top, and tapping send. This reply is not distributed to the public but rather sent to the author, who in turn has the chance to reply, and so on. Whole conversations can take place.

I retrieved three messages:
"What's troubling you? I'm here to listen :)"
"What state are you in?"
"If you had one wish, what would it be?"

I give this application two thumbs up: one for concept and one for execution.