With the London 2012 Paralympic Games getting underway today, we take a look at the best accessibility apps to help visitors make the most of London and the Games.

Inclusive London
Check accessibility information on hotels, restaurants, pubs, shops, museums and more. You can set your access preferences and prioritise search results. Free, and available for iPhone. Find out more at inclusivelondon.com

Hailo
Hail one of London’s accessible taxis wherever and whenever you need one with your smartphone. No more waiting on a street corner! Available for free on iPhone and Android. Visit hailocab.com for full details and to download.

Parkible
Looking for a disabled parking space in London? Then use the Parkible app to find the spaces near where you are, or search a specific location for parking bays. Free to download and available for iPhone and Android.

Enabled City
The PhotoRoute app by Enabled City provides step-free routes on some of London’s most photogenic routes, including Paddington to Camden Lock and the London Eye to Tower Bridge. There’s a free “Lite” version available, as well as a fully offline premium version for £1.99.  Available on iPhone and Android. Visit enabledcity.com to download.

Official London 2012 Join In App
Last but not least, the Official London 2012 App. Plan your trip to the Paralympic Games, check event schedules and receive London 2012 alerts. Available for free on iPhone and Android. Visit london2012.com to download.

Are you coming to London for the Paralympic Games? Let us know if you have used any accessibility apps to help you get around in the comments section below.

From today you can download the London Official City Guide app, brought to you by the Mayor of London and London & Partners.

The free app lets you search our comprehensive listings wherever you are, so you’ll always know what’s on near you and what not to miss.

Quick filters also let you find free events and attractions, as well as our must see recommendations.

During this summer like no other, the app also features fantastic trails around London and details of the Mayor’s free events. There’s even a welcome video from Boris himself!

Features of the app include:

• Places – Browse London landmarks, places to visit for free, parks, museums, galleries, shops and restaurants
• Trails – Stroll along some of London’s most scenic streets and meet London 2012 mascots Wenlock and Mandeville with the Discovery Trails. Or plan the perfect weekend day out and enjoy the best of the capital’s culture with our Culture Trails
• Map – search nearby events and places on an interactive map and plan your route
• Alerts - be the first to know about secret events happening throughout the summer

Download the perfect companion to your summer in London now from the Apple app store. And watch this space for the Android version coming very soon!

Tonight sees the official launch of the free Visit Stratford App, now available to download on Android and iPhone.

Created by Stratford Renaissance Partnership and the London Borough of Newham, the app provides information for Games-time visitors to the area, including listings for Stratford’s shops, bars, restaurants and hotels with up-to-date events and travel information.

Download it now to discover more about this rapidly developing area of East London – one that will become a familiar sight to over 2 billion TV viewers once the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games begin this July.

Other great features of the app include:

• Live tube, bus and DLR information
• Interactive map and audio walking guide
• 2012 Games information
• Digital postcards to send to your friends
• Interactive features showing Stratford’s future

For more information on the Visit Stratford App visit www.stratfordlondonapp.com
You can also download the app from the Apple App Store or from Android Play.

Going out in London? There’s an app for that, actually there are loads. London apps are like a knowledgeable friend in your pocket, telling you where to eat, get the best deals or even how to get home. Here’s our favourite London apps which will help you find everything from free stuff to Shakespeare’s favourite haunts.

London Tube
With this comprehensive app you’ll never get lost in London again. Indispensable to any traveller, it provides Henry Beck’s classic map of the London Underground. The app offers live updates, a journey planner tool, a directory of Tube lines and stops and can locate the nearest Tube station from your position. (£0.69, iPhone only)

Toptable
A fantastic app for foodies who want an easy way to search for restaurant deals. Easy to navigate, you can find and book great restaurants across London and enjoy thousands of special offers. The app can locate nearby restaurants and features a tip calculator – perfect for those tricky bill splitting/tip calculating moments! (Free, iPhone and Android versions)

Street Museum: Museum of London
A good looking, clever and imaginative app that brings the old together with the new. Using images from the Museum of London’s collections, it the capital’s history from momentous occasions to everyday events. Its focus on central London is a drawback but this is a great use of technology and can only grow. (Free, iPhone and Android versions)

London2Go
This is a great app for those who want to discover and learn more about London. It provides an offline map and a geographically accurate Tube map. You can locate nearby points of interest or you can search by category, such as top places, history and people or geography and transportation. (£1.49, iPhone only)

Time Out London
This is a useful app to help you organise days and nights out in London. It provides up to date information on gigs, events, bars, restaurants, club nights and film releases. The app includes a map showing events near the user’s location and you can search by location and taste. (Free, iPhone and Android versions)

Free London
Want to find out about all things free in London? Then this is the app for you. It provides information on the best free museums, free (or cheap) theatre tickets, cheap eats and accommodation for under £15 a night. Covering a range of London districts, listings can be categorized so that you can easily find what you’re looking for. (£1.49, iPhone only)

Shakespeare’s London
An interesting and informative app that’s an absolute must for Shakespeare fans and anyone interested in the history of London. Well-researched and threaded with great facts, it looks beyond the obvious spots and guides you around the playwright’s favourite haunts and sites of significance in the capital. (£1.99, iPhone only)

24 Hours London
This is an innovative app that lists fun and unusual things to do during every hour of the day in London. With links to contact details, and websites where applicable, this is a neat concept that lists some of London’s best kept secrets. (£1.49, iPhone only)

London on a Plate
Described as a fusion of food and fashion, this stylish app is a guide to London’s food culture. It offers restaurant reviews, tips on the best food shops and markets and provides the home cook with recipes from the capital’s finest chefs. A 10% donation from each app sale is made to the surplus food charity FareShare. (£2.99, iPhone only)

Cycle Hire
This is an accurate and user- friendly app for the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme in London. A clean, easy interface allows you to access your cycle hire account, see bike availability, set reminders as to when you need to return your bike and get a cycling route between two bike hire stations. (Free, iPhone only)

Which London apps are you using? Let us know in the comments below.

We rather like this video by AReality, but all is not quite as it seems… While it looks like a fuzzy 1970s home movie, most of the shots are of a very modern London. For instance, we’re pretty sure the London Eye wasn’t around last century!

AReality explains that this was actually filmed on an iphone, using the 8mm app.

Let us know what you think of the results in the comments below!

It’s no secret that the brand new Apple store opens in Covent Garden tomorrow at 10am.

The London space will be the largest Apple retail store in the world and excited customers are already queuing outside.

Rose Williams, 29, is first in line. She’s been queuing since 10am this morning and is hoping to purchase an iPad.

As well as being beautifully designed, the new Apple store has unique rooms dedicated to iPods, iPads, Macs and iPhones. There’ll even be 30 iPads on display on the shop floor (yes, you can touch one!)

There’ll be a range of limited edition accessories on sale at the new shop, including cases for MacBooks and iPhones.

If you’re not sure what to buy, there’s a team of personal shoppers on hand to help you choose. And don’t worry if you’re not technically minded, the Start Up Room will get you up and running with your new toy before you’ve even left the store.

There’s also everything that you’d expect from an Apple store – a Genius Bar for technical support; personal training with Apple’s One to One programme; free daily workshops and presentations but all bigger and better than ever before!

Take a look at James Holland from gadget website electricpig.co.uk‘s pre-opening tour of the new Apple shop:

Yesterday, the children from Soho Parish School buried a time capsule on Regent Street.

The capsule, which containted children’s letters to the future, an iPhone from the Regent Street Apple Store, and yesterday’s newspapers was buried beneath Regent Street’s Quadrant 3 redevelopment. It’ll be opened in 50 years’ time. (We can’t help wondering what people will think of the iPhone in 2060… will it look all old-fashioned, like a Sony Walkman today??!)

The Quadrant 3 project sounds really interesting. It’s all about restoring one of the UK’s largest collection of Grade I listed art deco spaces – the historic Atlantic Bar & Grill, Titanic Restaurant and Chez Cup – to their former glory. In addition, there’ll be offices, restaurants, shops and residential spaces, as well as a massive (44,000sq ft) public space: the most significant addition to the West End’s public spaces since Trafalgar Square.

The restoration project includes Edwardian architectural features such as veneered wooden panels, marble linings, brass edging, light fittings, mirrors and even embossed wallpaper.  Ceiling and wall fittings are being removed, cleaned and replaced. Where details are time-worn and beyond repair, they’ve been recreated using latex moulds. A particularly challenging aspect of the process has been repairing the elegantly embossed Lincrusta wallpaper. The fabric is being cleaned, restored and redecorated to the original design.

And we hope the children who added their poems, letters and stories to the time capsule will enjoy this restored section of London’s West End for years to come.