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Mardi Gras in next Tuesday. This is the most important day of the year in New Orleans, and one of the grandest parties in the United States all year.

For those of you who will be traveling down south to properly celebrate February 16 or you will be throwing a party at home of your own, here’re five iPhone applications to help you.

1. Discovery Channel Maps: New Orleans: One of the best (and cheaper at only $ 0.99) guidebooks to New Orleans for the iPhone, the Discovery Channel application includes maps and detailed information on all the important stages of some transport information.

2. 90.7 WWOZ FM: Being the official New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Station, iit is only appropriate that you stream and listen to  some tunes of famous jazz on your mobile device is always possible you might be next week.

3. Mardi Gras Guide by Arthur Hardy: Published by a journalist who has covered Mardi Gras celebrations in NOLA for years, includes detailed information on the parade and carnival not only the city but also in the vicinity and suburbs and towns (and as someone who has seen quite a few outside the city in Metairie, they aren’t to be immediately dismissed).

4. New Orleans Mardi Gras Entertainment Guide: Slightly cheaper than the previous app,  this entertainment guide has all the important information on bars, parties and live music in the French Quarter and other neighborhoods of New Orleans. There are also logistical information, such as parking, stopping times and places and even weather updates.

5. Mardi Gras (the game): You can bring the Mardi Gras to yourself with this $1.99 application. Basically, as the King of Mardi Gras, toss trinkets and beads to the crowd. The happier their mood is, the more points you get. It is a sort of consolation prize if they can not go, but perhaps their pleasure, or at least something to play while waiting for the bus.

As for some gadgets that you can not leave home without it? A point and shoot camera, by the way, and preferably one that records HD video if you do not transportable to another. If you are serious about photography and not party too hard, then take a digital SLR, but beware of the crowds and do not leave on the table,  but beware of large crowds and don’t leave it on the table because a drink is bound to spill on it.

And if you are having a party at home, do not forget to order a king cake in time. You’ll be disappointed if they do not.

There our last gadget throwdown, which lets IGN readers cast their votes for their favorite of two comparable devices, pitted the iPod touch against the Zune HD. The results showed that 53% of those polled preferred the Zune HD rather than the iPod touch. This time we are powerful smartphone Apple iPhone, unlike the Nexus One, the latest addition to the mobile platform Android. Will Apple win the hearts and minds of the IGN community? Or will Google’s latest hotness reign supreme?

In terms of hardware, the differences between the Nexus One and the iPhone 3GS vary. On the one hand, the Nexus One packs a powerful Qualcomm QSD 8250 1GHz processor, while the iPhone 3GS falls short with only 600MHz of power coming from its ARM Cortex-A8 CPU. However, the iPhone 3GS makes up for its inferior processing speeds through the inclusion of a dedicated PowerVR SGX graphics processor, which enables the 3GS to play Open GL-enabled 3D games.  As for storage space, the iPhone wins on the interfaces between the one with the storage of internal flash memory of 16GB or 32GB. The Nexus comes with 512MB of flash storage and 4 GB Micro SD Card. Of course, you can always extend the storage capacity of a link to 3GS match the iPhone, but requires an additional purchase. As processor speed, the Nexus is also more RAM than the iPhone 3G, packing 512MBs of memory compared to the 3GS’ 256MBs.

The iPhone 3GS and Nexus One both run on proprietary operating systems – the 3GS OS is available on the Apple iPhone, which is also used in the iPod touch and the link is used the Google Android platform Flash. The basic framework of the Android operating system of a link is much more flexible because of its open source nature, while the iPhone OS is a stricter regulation on the part of Apple. Both devices can be expanded through downloadable apps from both first party and third party developers. In this area, the iPhone is the undisputed king. As currently drafted, there are more than 140,000 applications available via the iTunes App Store, which can be viewed and managed on the phone itself as well as Mac or Windows PC. The Android platform, but today only about 30,000 applications, accessed and managed exclusively through the device itself.

The iPhone 3GS and Nexus One are both offered in contract and contract-free variations. The Nexus One is currently available in the United States through T-Mobile for a price of $179.00 with a 2-year service contract. The iPhone is currently 3GS exclusive AT & T in the U.S. and $ 199 for the variation of the 16GB and $ 299 for the variation of the 32 GB with an agreement of 2 years of service. AT&T offers the iPhone 3GS out of contract for $599 and $699 for the 16GB and 32GB variations respectively. The Nexus One comes unlocked direct from Google for $529.00. In either case, the Nexus One comes in below the price of the iPhone 3GS.