iPhone Apps

For those of us who love our iPhones we all know there's LOTS of apps. Wondering what cool stuff people have found.

"Line2" have a virtual number based in any city, under any name. It's well worth it. Comes out to about $15 a month.

"Day Bank" A great accounting software that allows you to input transactions for various accounts on the go. It's got a lot of great options.

"Wallet", password protected ewallet for reward program numbers, credit cards and other info - one should always be careful what they store on a mobile device but that's been handy for me.

"All My Recipes" It allows you to store all you recipes on your phone, then generates shopping lists based on what you want to cook. You can use the shopping list in store, checking off items as you toss them in your basket.

"Bento" Allows you to create customized databases on your phone. I LOVE this program.

"DpcScanner" Will scan documents using your iPhone camera - super handy when you're reading a book or magazine somewhere and need to capture the information in something in good quality.

"WordPress" - blog on the go for all your various accounts.

"TwitBird Pre" - tweet on the go for all you various accounts

"Shazam" - ever wonder who that is on the radio, playing in the bar, or in a store speaker system. Hold your iphone up and this recognition software will tell you the name and album

"Parlingo" - log into all your instant massaging accounts at once. Even when you close the app it keeps you logged in and lets you receive chat responses.

"Converter" - does currency conversion with live data. Also converts unites for energy, force, length, computer data, power, pressure, speed, temperature, time, typography, volume and weight.

"Skype" - they finally work in Canada.

Fake A Call - set up the program to simulte a call, with a display name and everything showing up as it rings - to get you out of situations where you either need to bail or need a moment.

Games:
Assassin's Creed- classic RPG video game, great for long flights.

Tap Tap - great music and reflex game

Parking Lot - awesome puzzle game

Fling - amusing puzzles

Pocket God - your own virtual island in your phone of natives that worship you as god. You have total control over your environment, may bless or torment you pigmies.

Pocket Devil - a slice of hell in you iphone, like the above only you're satan and torturing your little devils

Useless Aps:
Fluid - turn your iphone into a watery pond...

FML - "Fuck My Life". Having a bad day? Log into fuck my life, where people post their misery in real time. Amusing and a confidence booster.

My phone doesn't even have a camera. But I have checked out FML. It's a riot.

This is a great list/compilation of the apps out there. Shazam is a lot of fun and I have a few of the others listed on my Iphone as well.. FML is a riot.

I'm not much of a game player, but here are the ones I find I use...

Pandora - Music by genre

Dictionary - Self explanatory

Thesaurus - Self explanatory

Flight Track - Tracking filghts

HuntCal & FishCal - Tells you peak times of day to hunt & fish.

Factbook - Like an Encyclopedia

OpenTable - Restaraunt reservations

Espn Sports Center - for all your sport score needs

Roadside - Tells you a bunch of offbeat things to see along your route.

Compass - Self Explanatory (Helps find you way back to the truck in the dark from the stand)

wikipedia

imdb

google (with voice search)

as mentioned ESPN, although I think it is "Score Center" not "Sports Center" -- not just scores but real time (written) play by play

iheartradio -- actual live broadcast of most of Clear Channel's stations

snaptell -- take a picture of a book or dvd cover & get instant reviews & comparative pricing

taxi -- uses GPS to find the local number to use to call a cab

bump -- literally "bump" phones with another bump user and automatically exchange contact info (great for tradeshows, happyhours)

A couple of other thoughts

• I've had mine for a little over a year now. I really like it and I still use a lot of the functionality, but for me the novelty of the "cute" apps has worn off.
• I limited my list to general interest apps, but the real breakthru with the value of these smartphones are some of custom apps specifically for business. Just one example, you have entire sales forces walking around with their customer management suites in their pockets
• There are a lot of apps that really suck. I mean they just plain don't work. I downloaded one (forgot the name, long since deleted) that had this real cool premise*: before you leave your car in say a crowded parking lot or a couple of blocks away from where you are going you take a GPS snapshot of where are at; when the ball game or concert or whatever is over it would guide you back to the car. Well, I decided I'd try it out at home, and the thing comes back and tells me the car is a mile & a half awayTh at level of precision isn't helpful.

*btw if anyone finds one like this that works let me know...this would be very useful

My cell phone use is limited at best. So, I can't justify the expense of investment in a smartphone or an iphone, and especially, the monthly charges. I currently pay about $28/mo for cell charges. That's less than half what the iphone monthly charges are. Oh, I would just love one. After all, I'm a guy that loves tech toys.

If you like FML, you need Texts From Last Night (also on the web). For games, Fieldrunners is a great game regardless of the platform. Words with Friends (Scrabble) is a lot of fun. MLB At-Bat is worth triple the price (don't tell MLB). And I can't believe that no one has mentioned Facebook!

I'm with you CT. My charges are a little higher but not much. There is a camera but not my choice. I also have a pay as you go hobby phone that is off most of the time. If I have a date scheduled, it's on; otherwise, probably not.
Point is, apps don't mean anything to me.

The iPhone isn't really a phone, it's an outboard brain. I don't want to carry around my laptop everywhere I go, yet, the software on it is stuff I need. So rather then carry a computer bag, I slip a pocket computer into my purse and off I go. Saves a lot of damage to my shoulders, neck and back. It also saves me having to carry around paperwork for shopping lists, notes, work, reservations, and many other things.

Other apps I forgot to note:

* "aNote" or "Awesome Note" an advanced note taking software that lets you categorize notes, include priority, quick reference, check lists and other cool features that really help you organize small pieces of information.

* "TravTracker" or "Travel Tracker: THANK GOD FOR THIS APP!!! You create a file that contains everything for your trip and in sequential order. It will store your flight information, all you have to do is input your flight number and it logs into the airline and automatically downloads all needed info - it also calculates you reward miles and saves your confirmation number. It does the same for Hotel information, Car rental, Accommodations, Dining reservations, Meeting notes, road trip instructions, Cruises, train rides, and then allows you to attach notes.

* Xpense Trkr - This is a fantastic software for tracking expense - it also lets you photograph and save receipts with the noted expense.

* Timeworks - LIFE SAVER! My day job is based on time billing. I pull up the app hit the "start" button when I begin work on a project, and a timer begins. I can pause the timer if I need to stop working to do something else so I'm not billing a client for time not spent on their project. When I hit "stop" on the timer, it notes the total time I was working, allows me to include notes about all the completed tasks, lets me store it according to Client and Project, allows me to attach customized per hour fees for my work, generates an invoice and will mail it to myself, or my client, and store it in the database. It also lets you go into the database to note who has and has not paid their invoice.

* Flashlight: Turns your whole screen a bright white - does a really good job of lighting up a dark room. Saves me from hurting myself on the way to the washroom in the middle of the night, and saves me from blinding myself by turning on the washroom light lol

* WCalendar - Women's Calendar. A life saver for the ladies. It tracks you menstrual cycle, and it learns over time so it is able to predict your cycle with greater and greater accuracy. It lets you make needed notes that might be required for health purposes and predicts your ovulation.

* Earthworm Jim: Remember this retro video game?? It was awesome, fun and goofy. Now they have it on the iPhone, it keeps me most amused!!!

I love iSpoof. It allows you to place calls from any number that you input. It has come in handy more than once.

vlingo, lets you speak a name ("call Lauren Sumerhill") and the phone calls her.

RedLaser - Scan UPC bar codes using your camera and the app will perform a search of online and other retailers for competing prices. You can also use it to scan a product and save it to a wishlist.

Zagat Guide - Great for finding a good place to eat, in a town I don't know.
Open Table - Great for booking a table at the restaurant found above.

Not an app, but an easy thing to do: Gut a "Macro Lens" for your iPhone. Buy a 5x watchmakers loupe, about a $10 purchase, also useful for many other things. Just hold it against the phone body, with the camera shooting through it.

http://www.loupe-magnifier.com/watchmakers_loupes.htm

There are many reasons why the Ipad makes no sense. But, it's a toy that I can't pass up. What do you think about it?