The Oscars are almost here! Will you be battling your friends in an Oscar betting pool, or just sitting back to watch the show with some movie-themed snacks? However you plan to spend your Sunday night, these free iPhone and iPad apps will help maximize your Academy Awards experience.

1. Awards Hero: Oscars Edition

Do you have what it takes to build the best Oscar ballot? Get access to all the info you need about this year’s nominees and then show off your skills by predicting the winners. Once you’re feeling sure of your choices, take the fight to Facebook and challenge your friends to make picks of their own.

2. Live From the Red Carpet

Join E! Entertainment when they cover the celebrities, Hollywood glamour and red carpet fashion leading up to the big event. Before the gold statues are handed out, watch the nominees compete for the first real award of the night: the title of best dressed.

3. The Official Oscars App

If it’s backstage access you crave, download this app right away. Come showtime, more than a dozen live video streams will give you an insider’s look at the the ceremony, from the red carpet to the control room, and even on to the after parties.

4. IMDb

The Internet Movie Database is a true must-have for film buffs. Track credits, trivia and trailers for all of the actors and movies you care most about, plus extra info like choice quotes and box office receipts. If you want to be any more connected to the movie business than this, you’ll need to get an agent.

Alexei Bochenek is a lifelong tech nerd & film buff based in Los Angeles. When he’s not playing with his phone, it’s because the movie has started. Shhhhh!

Without an iPad, an iPhone, or even a sufficiently smart phone, I was getting left behind. Literally. While stopping for coffee, I realized I still hadn’t bought tickets for Star Wars: Episode I in 3D. After booting up my clunky laptop, the Starbucks’ “Terms & Agreements” blocked my way to the Internet. While the progress bar hiccuped, I noticed a man in line using the Fandango App on his iPhone. A couple taps on his screen and… “Congratulations! You’ve purchased tickets to Star Wars: Episode I in 3D!” He called his buddy. “We’re on for tonight!” When my browser finally loaded, tickets were sold out. I won’t be getting any special edition Darth Maul 3D glasses. Mobile technology can make life easier, but with the plethora of devices, applications and accessories, knowing what tools are useful can pose a challenge. Finding mobility was something I could do only after discovering what products to look for.

My journey into mobile computing began with the iPhone. Although technically a smartphone, my BlackBerry Curve was not suitable for Internet usage. The browser was chronically slow to load, I could only open one web page at a time, and not all websites were compatible with my phone. I switched to the iPhone with the camera and Twitter applications in mind, but quickly learned that my new technology was advantageous to me in more ways than I’d known. The combination of a faster 3G network and the Safari application, which supports all websites, made mobile browsing infinitely easier. My criteria for electronics changed with my adoption of the iPhone and I began looking for devices that were more user-friendly and had better connectivity.

The mobility technology provided on the road heightened my expectations at home. I wanted to roam the house with my laptop, instead of sitting crammed in a corner straining for one bar of wi-fi. My Internet connection was weak and insecure. I tried twice to set up a Linksys password, and both times I ended up locked out of my own network. After months of frustration, my Linksys router went out the window. I treated myself to an AirPort Extreme. It took 10 minutes to set up my own network and a guest network. I can now use the Internet securely from any room in my apartment. Once I add an AirPort Express, I’ll be able to plug in speakers and play music from my phone.

My laptop was the only device being left out. Since I don’t have an iPad or tablet, I rely on my computer for working on the go. I needed a wireless connection that found my computer, instead of making my computer find it. The simplest solution was to active tethering on my iPhone. Tethering creates a portable wireless network for your computer using an Internet-capable mobile phone. I upgraded my data service and hopped into the passenger seat. (Without one of those Google self-driving cars, my friend had to steer.) I went to the settings menu, turned on my personal network and entered a password into my computer. Now I can work while crawling L.A.’s 405.

With my uber-amped home wi-fi, my tethered computer and my iPhone, I have the tools I need to take work and pleasure with me. There is not a pair of Darth Maul 3D glasses in the galaxy that can escape my technology. I’m mobile.

Dana Braziel-Solovy is a comic book aficionado who’s getting more and more into technology every day. When she’s not busy training her Sith Apprentice, she uses her iPhone to command an army of virtual dragons.

According to the official Android Developers resource, only 1% of all Android devices are currently running the newest version of that operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich, which is required to download Chrome. If your pocket currently contains a shiny new Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone, or you’re browsing the web right now on an Asus Transformer Prime tablet, you’re the target audience here. But chances are, you’re still rocking a slightly older version of Android, such as Gingerbread (58%) or Froyo (28%). So what are you missing out on?

It just so happens that for the first time ever, I’m part of the privileged 1%! Not of billionaires, mind you, but of Galaxy Nexus owners. I’ve been putting mobile Chrome through its paces, and here’s what I found.

For starters, Chrome is not, at its core, “faster” than the standard browser when it comes to loading web pages. In consecutive tests, I found each app’s measurable performance almost identical. However, Chrome is easier to use, thanks to some minor but important tweaks to its interface. Right away you’ll notice that the refresh button has been surfaced and added to the address bar at the top of the screen; no more two-taps into a dingy sub-menu for a simple page refresh. Also, the tab system has been reconfigured; it now displays the number of open tabs (again in the address bar) and, when tapped, displays these tabs as a stack of cards that you can flip through, push, pull and re-order in a very dynamic and attractive way, rather than a static column of tiny preview images that requires endless scrolling down and up. Finally, Chrome’s popular “Incognito Mode” also makes an appearance, allowing you to open “anonymous” tabs browse privately on your phone without a cookie trail following you through cyberspace.

Beyond those minor (but appreciated) UI improvements, the big selling point of this version of Chrome is it’s syncing capabilities. Google has taught your desktop and mobile browsers to keep in touch, making your transition from screen to screen as seamless as possible. Once you’ve signed in with your Google account (which mobile Chrome will aggressively nag you into doing) you’ll have access to a list of every tab open on every computer or device you’re currently signed into. Theoretically, you can walk away from your computer with 20 tabs running, and then jump back into any of those web pages on your phone with no hassle. Sounds cool, right?

Which brings us to our next point: this is a beta release, and it’s not without its bugs. The sync function, during my use, at first sent only half of my open tabs from my MacBook Pro to my Galaxy Nexus. (A reboot of the desktop browser fixed this.) However, my phone then identified some tabs as being open on “other devices” for reasons I still don’t quite understand. And while the automatic syncing is built in, the ability to manually push pages from desktop to mobile device (as opposed to waiting and praying it shows up) requires you to install an extension on your desktop browser called “Chrome to Mobile Beta.” Something about installing a Google extension to a Google application so that it works well with my other Google application feels a bit laborious, especially in the name of convenience.

Also on the beta front, I also encountered a number of hiccups in scrolling and zooming, marring an experience that was otherwise smoother and snappier than the default browser. Not to mention the pages that never displayed at all and needed an immediate refresh to show up. Once these are ironed out, it will be safe to call Chrome the “fastest” Android browser, as it is designed to smartly load up elements within a page in such an order as to make it viewable sooner- when it works. But until then, the race is still too close to call.

So, what have we learned? Chrome is coming to mobile, and will likely be the standard browser on every Android device from here on out. It’s a welcome bump up from the standard browser, but until you pick up a new phone that can actually run it, you’re not missing a ton.

Are you one of the lucky 1%? Get the new Chrome Beta right here.

Alexei Bochenek is a lifelong tech nerd & film buff based in Los Angeles. When he’s not playing with his phone, it’s because the movie has started. Shhhhh!

Catch your tablet by the tail with Octa #CES #MacWorld

Octa’s WhaleTail and Vacuum Dock Tablet Stand

Cool Products at Macworld | iWorld 2012

Watch and learn how the amazing Whale Tail attaches easily to your iPad or other tablet and serves as a super-configurable iPad stand. Watch as the Whale Tail is set to position your iPad perfectly for viewing, typing, and more. Remove the tail leaving only the Vacuum Dock, and you’ve got a perfect hand-sized handle on the back of your iPad.

The Whale Tail truly is the perfect iPad Stand.

Octa WhaleTail gives your tablet a tail

Sweet notions

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