Ever tried to watch AVI movies on your iPhone? Then you’ve probably already worked out that the Apple device sadly doesn’t support playback of AVI video.

Thankfully, there is a way around this issue and there are at least two ways to play AVI files on an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Here I’ll explain how it’s done, first by converting your video file and prepping it for your iOS device, or alternatively by using an app called Air Video to stream video files from your computer to your iPhone.

Do this…

Use a conversion tool to convert AVI movies to iPhone format. I recommend Format Factory because it’s free and it has built-in output settings for converting to particular mobile devices, including the iPhone.

It seems fitting that the first OnSoftware post of 2012 should pay homage to some of the great articles we published last year.

There was much to talk about in the world of software and apps in 2011, and testament to this is that we published more blog articles last year than any other in our history. If you don’t have time to go back and read them all (there’s a staggering 581 of them!) then at least go back and revisit our ten most popular posts of last year in terms of visits.

The list makes for an interesting overview of what was on the minds of computer users last year (upgrading to Windows 7/Mac OS X Lion, getting onto Google +, social media privacy - and Minecraft!) Take a trip back down memory lane by checking out the posts:

1. Get a Google + invite

When Tom put out his guide to getting onto Google + before anyone else, everyone wanted to be his friend.

Skitch, the popular image annotation and screenshot tool for Mac, is now available as an iPad app. That means more possibilities for personalizing photos and sharing with friends and family, no matter where you happen to be.

In August Evernote purchased Skitch and has subsequently been adding features to the program to prep it for its release on iPad. This version of Skitch has a useful home screen that gives you a multitude of different options. You can edit an image on your iPad or snap a new photo, capture a screenshot, annotate a map to make directions even more understandable or even just sketch on a completely blank canvas. Skitch also has its own web browser with handy features that make marking up webpages quick and simple.

In addition, Skitch for iPad has numerous drawing tools that are all easy to make use of. You can move around objects on the image with your finger, draw arrows to highlight certain aspects of the picture, add in shape or text, crop the canvas as you like and use your finger for freehand drawing. When you're done, you can save your new drawings and annotations to Evernote and share via email, Twitter and more.

Best of all, Skitch for iPad is completely free and very easy to use. Sharing and editing images on the go has never been easier.

Last week, we revealed our top iOS apps of 2011. Now it’s time to turn our attention to games, as we round-up the best titles of the year for all mobile platforms.

We’ve played so many great mobile games this year that this blog post could have easily been a top 100. Luckily, though, we were able to get the list down to the top ten mobile games of 2011:

10. Tiny Tower (iOS & Android)

Tiny Tower was our favorite of all the freemium, ‘build ‘em up’-style games this year. Your objective is to build a huge tower complete with apartments, shops, offices and more. Tiny Tower’s cute pixel art graphics and laid back elevator music make it a really charming strategy game. What’s more, its Game Center integration allows you to find other ‘Bitizens’ to challenge online.

There are a lot of great photos online, and Pinterest aims to be the place where you save all the online images you like. Never lose a picture you enjoyed somewhere on the internet again!

Pinterest is a social photo sharing service that lets you create folders to organize content you find online. Called pinboards, these folders can be tailored directly to your interests and even organized into more specific sub-categories to make them searchable to other users.

You can easily add images you find online to your pinboards, either manually or in Chrome with a one-click add-on. Alternatively, you can also upload images saved on your computer directly to the site. Just be sure to add a link back to the original source or credit the author by name if possible. If you find something you like within Pinterest's website itself, there's a feature that lets you "Repin" an image and add it directly to the pinboard of your choice. In this way, Pinterest is a kind of hybrid between photo sharing website We Heart It and microblogging platform Tumblr that allows users to reblog other peoples' pictures and posts. Simply liking an image, as well as commenting, is also possible.

Currently, Pinterest is an invite-only service. That said, I requested an invite and it took about a week to receive notice back that I could create an account and join. You can log into Pinterest via either your Facebook or Twitter account once you've received an invite, which makes sharing even easier. There's also an app for the service available for iPhone. Even without an invite, you can freely browse the public pinboards that have already been posted up by other users, making it well worth a look.

Apple have just launched iTunes Match but what is it exactly? In a nutshell, it's basically part of iCloud and makes it possible to access your iTunes collection from anywhere with iTunes 5.1 or higher. This also provides a handy backup of your music if anything happens to your PC, Mac or iPhone.

In addition, iTunes Match can clean your iTunes library by replacing those tracks obtained from outside the iTunes store with official iTunes store versions. This is useful for example if you have lots of ripped CD's or music downloaded from other sites that either aren't labelled very well or are of poor sound quality. iTunes Match will replace poor quality tracks with 256kbps versions.

iTunes Match isn't a free service. It costs $24.99 a year which isn't bad if you're a heavy iTunes user on multiple devices with a rather disorganized music collection.

Note that once you've uploaded your iTunes collection, you can stream it to your Apple devices in the same way as you can with Spotify. There's also a 25,000 track limit although those you have purchased via iTunes don't count towards this total.

The initial scanning and uploading process can take quite a long time especially if you've got a large iTunes library. Once a song is uploaded, a cloud symbol will appear next to it to let you know it's done.

For Spotify users, iTunes Match isn't really offering anything new but for those that rely on iTunes a lot, it's a practical service.

Back in September, we covered and discussed the new features Facebook planned to roll out, as announced at the F8 event in San Francisco. One of the most talked about features was Timeline, a totally revamped look for Facebook profiles.

Timeline is a user interface revision of Facebook's profile page. Its aim is to let users easily access older content they've shared or posted. This is done by streamlining the profile page into a layout that's broken up by year. Simply click on the year you want to access, and you'll be able to view it.

To begin with, Timeline was only available to preview by developers. Now it's going live for everyone. Facebook users currently have the ability to opt in to the change for the next week. Facebook is calling this their 7-day review period. This means you're allowed to make changes and tweak your profile, without people on your friends list being able to see it just yet. You can choose to publish your new profile whenever you like, but after the week is out Timeline will automatically become visible to your friends.

The new profile can also be viewed currently in the official Facebook app for Android and via mobile sites.

In addition, there's also greater integration with apps on the new Timeline profile. A great example of this is how listening to music in Spotify shows up on your new profile.

Recent Spotify music will show up just like shared links and status updates, within the main interface of your profile. Mousing over a specific song will give you more information about the track, as well as allow you to comment on it, like it or even share it with other friends.

As with all changes Facebook implements, this one will take some getting used to for many users. The 7-day review period will help ease users into the new features though, and make it possible to customize your profile to perfection before the big reveal to friends and family.

Grand Theft Auto 3 has been released today for mobile devices, promising  iOS and Android users all the fun, action-packed gameplay of the controversial original game. Its release is designed to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original launch.

As you can see from the trailer, GTA 3 for mobile is a very faithful conversion of the original for the small screen. You play as Claude, a career criminal who must work his way up the crime ladder of Liberty City in order to get revenge on his ex-girlfriend who betrayed him during a heist.

Full of great 3D graphics,  fast cars, fun storylines, and brazen violence, Grand Theft Auto 3 is well worth the five bucks it costs from the app store. Find out more by reading our review of GTA 3 for iOS and Android.

Google's newest project aims to add a social element into your search for local offline activities. Called Schemer, this new service lets you create a to-do list of activities (schemes) you want to take part in.

Schemer's ultimate goal is to help users find things to do in their local region. From Google's announcement:

Whether it's exploring a new city, checking out a friend's movie recommendations, or just finding new activities for your weekends, Schemer lets you discover new things to do, share schemes with friends, and make the most of your day.

So far, Schemer is in a private, invite-only beta phase, and many of the available schemes aren't actually location specific yet. Ones I've listed on my own profile so far include "get a massage," "become a bestselling author" and "buy an Android tablet," for example. Each scheme has a webpage of its own where like-minded schemers can comment and offer tips on how to achieve the scheme in question, which is where the social aspect comes in. The ultimate goal is to be able to check off each scheme on your to do list as it is completed. Then it's up to you to discover new schemes to add on.

As more users join the service, it's likely that the schemes will more frequently come attached with locations where they can be completed, such as restaurants, downtown venues and outdoor arenas. Google has already teamed up with media properties such as Entertainment Weekly, Lifehacker, National Geographic and Bravo to link with relevant schemes. Schemer users may also opt to create an original scheme if it hasn't already been made, as well as share schemes with friends.

Ultimately, Schemer is another example of Google+'s connectedness with other Google services, making it easy to share schemes among friends and search out activities to add to an ever growing list of activities to do, this time away from the internet.

Schemer is also available as an Android app to those who already have an web-based Schemer account.

2011 has been another great year for iOS apps. Despite the fact that Apple’s mobile platform fell behind Android in overall popularity this year, innovation in iOS development is better than ever.

The Apple operating system is still where cutting edge applications are born, and this year’s launch of iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S device have fueled app developer’s imaginations even more. Here’s our pick of the best iPhone and iPad apps of 2011, based on what impressed us out of the hundreds of new apps we tested this year.

Garageband

For me, Garageband is the most accomplished iOS app of all time. It allows you to create impressive musical compositions without any technical know-how, through an interface that’s effortless to navigate. The software's Smart Instruments, including piano, bass, guitar and drums, serve to help you create music that sounds like it's been played by a pro.

First released alongside the iPad 2 in March as one of the flagship apps for the tablet, this music-making app has since found its way onto the iPhone, too.

Price: $4.99

iMovie

As with Garageband, iMovie is another piece of Mac software that makes the transition from desktop to handheld really well. The app makes smart use of the multi-touch gestures to allow you to add videos, photos, music and sound effects, and piece them together. You can choose to add footage from your camera roll, or capture video directly through iMovie. The results can then be shared via YouTube.

Price: $4.99

The BBC have finally released an official BBC iPlayer app for iPhone. Although iPhones are already able to access the iPlayer via a web browser, this is the first official app which gives iPhone users a similar experience to that found on iPads. The new app also supports streaming iPlayer video content over 3G networks to your iPhone.

The new app includes additional improvements such as more free content and AirPlay for both subscribers and non subscribers. Note that the new app also works with  iPod Touch and the AirPlay feature that allows you to stream content to your TV requires iOS 5.

Right on the heels of Flipboard's release on iPhone, Google has launched its own social reading app called Currents.

Released for iPhone and Android smartphones, Google Currents aggregates content from online feeds and individual sources like blogs and compiles it in an easy to read magazine format. You can browse stories, and when you find one you like, importing it is a one touch snap. Once imported, you can come back to the article later, even if you happen to be offline.

You can read content with Google Currents in either landscape or portrait views, and the app scales to the size of your mobile device in impressive fashion. The service also syncs across multiple devices so you can take your content virtually anywhere you happen to go.

While Google Currents requires some initial customization to set up the publications you want to subscribe to, the eventual benefits of being able to take your content with you on the go will likely outweigh the minor inconvenience of set-up.

Flipboard, the free 'personalized magazine' has been updated and now works on iPhones as well as iPads! For me, Flipboard was the first killer app for iPad so it's great news that it's now universal.

Flipboard is a 'social magazine'. Essentially it collects Twitter, Facebook, partner publishers and RSS feeds together to make a very attractive way of browsing articles on an iOS device.

The new feature for iPhone is 'Cover Stories', which selects the most interesting stories of the moment based on what you most commonly read. You can alter this by muting some authors (or Twitter users, Facebook friends, etc.), and adding other content to Flipboard. I've been using it for a morning, and it's already feeling much more personal. I would like the option to mute whole services for Cover Stories as, for example, tweets are rarely pretty enough.

Once you've personalized Flipboard, you'll get the stories and social media you want collected in Flipboard's excellent interface. Although there is a search, it's not always the easiest application to find your way around. However, it's worth getting used to as it really is a lovely app for reading. Read our review, and download the free universal iOS app here.

Looking for high tech gift ideas this Holiday Season? There are some really cool iOS toys out now that will impress anyone with an iPhone or an iPad.

Here are my top six iOS gift ideas for the holidays. All of them consist of an app, plus a toy or gadget that interacts with the application in some way. They all serve to highlight how far augmented reality applications have come in the last year.

Disney AppMates

Fans of the Cars movies will love these innovative iPad toys from Disney. Put the toy cars on your tablet and move them around and you’ll interact with the virtual world that appears in the app. The Cars characters are the first in Disney’s new line of AppMates, which could revolutionize the way we play games on our devices. Price: toys from $12.99, app free

Indie developer Increpare is extremely prolific, and has made some of the most unusual games around. His latest project is the highly polished 3D puzzle game English Country Tune.

It's typically abstract, but really playable. You control a square that flips around 3D puzzles, moving objects to complete them. Check out this trailer for a better idea of how it works!

English Country Tune looks cool, and is really atmospheric. I've enjoyed playing it, but be warned - it's hard! While there is help and concepts are introduced gently, English Country Tune quickly gets tough and will really make you think. You might find that refreshing, as games tend to be easy these days, but you equally might find it frustrating!

Luckily there's a demo for PC and Mac so you can find out for yourself if you're mentally tough enough! English Country Tune is available for PC, Mac and iOS. Check it out and tell us what you think! You can read my full review here.