Stand back its an SM app shoot off.

Its a hot dusty day somewhere in the southwest, the older app Show Timer (by West Side Systems) stands in the middle of the street stopwatch in hand. The clock tower starts to chime, its high noon. All of the sudden a crashing noise comes from the bar, you know where all the lighting apps are hanging out. There stands Show Tool SM (by Daniel Murfin) hat hanging low with a spike tape and clipboard in hand. Show Tool SM steps into the street and stares down the older more experienced app. Will the wisdom of Show Timer pay off in this fight  or will the upstart Show Tool SM take its place on the top of the iPhone app page.

First let me start with a feature list:

Features	Show Timer	Show Tool SM
Price	$2.99	$4.99
Stop Watch (count up)	X	X
Time Log with labels	X	X
Time (count down)	X
Large Current Time Clock	X
Timer/Alarm Sounds
Email Data	X	X
Turn off Sleep	X	X
Track Spikes and Colors		X
Track Props		X
Checklist		X
Contacts
Cast/Crew information

Show Timer by West Side Systems

Timing:

Both have excellent stop watches that allow you to label and keep a log of your times.  This log can then be emailed to a desktop, laptop or designer. In each case of the log you can add a tag but one nice feature of Show Timer is the ability to paste one of several common phrases like Act, Scene or Lunch. Show Timer also has a countdown timer and a large real time clock for reference. I am disappointed that niether app has an alarm with alert sound, so the SM can keep there eyes on rehearsal and not look at the clock.

Show Tools SM by Daniel Murfin

Other Features:

This is where Show Tool SM has the advantage, it has a great system for tracking Spike Marks with color, purpose and position. It has a check list function that can be broken down into sections by act and scene. However the app does not allow for a pre-show, intermission or post show category. Last it has prop tracking. A prop can be tracked at its starting and final destination with any notes needed about that prop. Each of these features are split up by act and scene only which is great in most instances.

Review Conclusion:

Show Timer clearly has fewer features that Show Tool SM, In its defense Show Timer does not sell its self as a “full service” SM app but as a timer. As a timer it has more functions but its log is a bit confusing and hard to read.  Show Tool SM has lots of features and is pretty easy to get around. The checklists are a great use of mobile computing, the iPhone is smaller than a laptop to carry around and we won’t kill a tree printing out multiple checklists.  If you are on a budget Show Tool SM is my recommendation but if you have an extra $2.99 get both.

Future Features:

In order to judge these apps I asked around to see what Stage Managers would want in a mobile application. Here are some new ideas for future releases, some are mine and other are from stage managers on Facebook and Twitter.

Contact Information with a call feature-Its an iphone, the ability to call cast, crew or production teams without sorting through the phone contacts seems to be an obvious feature for an SM app.
Alarm Sounds-”We only have 10 minutes to run this scene let me set the alarm.” An alarm is a built in feature to the iPhone but why not have it right in the app.
Crew/Cast information-When on the go a cast/crew check in list, emergency contact info or allergies might be nice to have at your fingertips.
Networked app- Could all these great checklists and timmings be networked over Wi-Fi and shared between the SM’s and ASM’s? Could you send a message to an ASM in a dance rehearsal in another room?
Rehearsal Reports-Do not make sense on the iPhone? No, the screen and key pad are too small, but might make better sense on an iPad.

From the professionals point of view:

Christi Vadovic-”Contacts for cast, crew, & production team. Prop lists, costume preset/quick change information. Technical specs (weight limits for effects, ect). Ability to upload scrips & add cues or blocking.  Also the ability to look @ ground plans for taping purposes.”

Stacy Schultz-”I agree with all that, don’t forget run sheets for backstage crews!”

Jason Tollefson-“and a flashlight module which can be used both to see backstage (in blue and/or red) and in bright white to charge glowtape.”

Thanks to all that submitted suggestions

Wufoo (gesundheit)-Save a tree put that form on-line.

In my early days working as a production manager I found my self constantly creating form after form to track budgets, vehicles, spending, space requests and many other things that needed to be tracked.  I am sad to say I killed a lot of trees.  I recently came across a service called Wufoo at http://wufoo.com/and they have a free and paid version of their service. The service allows you to build forms and post them on line for anyone to access.  The information is then stored and can be sent to you in an email or you can build  custom report to save or export. I found their form builder to be easy to use and very functional (pictured right). The report engine took some time to learn and did not fit my exact needs but I was able to make it functional. The free version allows you to create up to three forms and gives you three reports at a time or if you need more you can get there paid service.  I recently created a form to take session submissions for the USITT’s Lighting Commission for the 2011 conference here was the result.   If you are a casual form user this is a great service but for the stage manager who wants to compile cast and crew info or production manager who wants to get scheduling requests this type of service is a must.