iPhone Apps

There was a neat little article in the local paper called Apps Addiction on April 20, 2009. I read through and found some new things to play with on my phone. I was inspired and thought I'd write my own rendition in similar style to share some of my own app favorites. I'll give you a run-through for each app at the appropriate time in the span of a day:

~First thing in the morning, launch The Weather Channel app. It's much better than the default app (of course now I must have 2 weather apps on my phone, as you can't delete the defaults, but those just get shoved to my last page).
~Check your Calendar and make sure you're not forgetting something important for the day. I love the default calendar, but I find that Days Until is the perfect companion. Calendar for certain dates/appointments including birthdays; Days Until for upcoming events I just want to be reminded of, that I may or may not be attending.

Off to work.
~Like data, stats, and stuff? You might enjoy tracking your route to and from work on GPSLite. You can share tracks you've traveled to on your Facebook. It also has a compass in case you go hiking on the weekend and get lost in the woods.
~Loopt can send your Twitter or Facebook a status message with a link to your current location too, in case you just have to share some news while you're out!
~Need some tunes for your drive? Sure, it has an iPod built right in, but what if you're tired of your playlist today? Listen to Pandora.
~Traffic. Too bad Birmingham doesn't have a good app to check that, but for anyone in larger cities, you could definitely find some free traffic report apps to aid you in your drive to & from work.

Still want more stats during your day? Turn your phone into a pedometer with StepTrakLite. You can tweet your activity at the end of your walking activity, too.

Bored, downtime, or looking for something to do on your lunch/break?
~Keep up with your social life via Myspace, Facebook, Twitterrific. Lots easier than trying to use the sites in Safari for some casual checking in.
~Yahoo has a free app that lets you view your social pulse, use instant messengers, Delicious bookmarks, and more.
~ShoZu sends photos from your phone to various storage locations it links to.

~Need to do some shopping? Try eBay, Amazon, and Craigsphone for the same reason. Fast and easy to check on your stuff! There's also a WootWatch. (I tried Bantler that shows Woot and a bunch of other stuff, but it was just too much.)
~Then put all the tracking numbers in TrackerLite to keep up with your incoming purchases.

Gotta make some phone calls?
~The White Pages is a must-have tool.

Trying to stay productive?
~Mint's iPhone app will let you connect to your financial information. I'd never heard of Mint before this app, and was leery of it at first, but it's pretty freakin' awesome. Once you have your web profile all set up, you can check the amount of $ in all your accounts in one quick glance at this app.
~MyWireless will let you check your AT&T phone and data useage, pay your bill, etc. Handy.
~Dictionary. Because everybody needs one at some point. Download while you're on a wireless LAN.

~Need gas on the way home? Try GasBag to check local prices; hopefully you or somebody else local has supplied current prices. If not, you can plug those in on your way by. You can use this app to track your gas mileage details when you fill up.

Dinnertime.
~Try AllRecipes to help you figure out what to cook.
~Want to track your nutritional information per food item? Yep, there's an app for that. It's called Wellness, although Lose It! is a more robust app that also does this.

Weekend's here!
~Time to hit the malls, and find the sales? Use SalePrice to determine the actual price.
~And also use Yelp to help you find what you're looking for while you're out and about.
~The Yellow Pages can also be a big help for this. No more cumbersome phone book in your car!
~Oops! Did you have too much fun? Need someone to help you find the way home? Just tell them to hit your I'm Lost! button which has your address, so they can click the map to see just how to get you home from wherever the heck you're at right now. Heck, YOU might need this button yourself if your friends have dragged you off to an unknown location, or something weird. No fumbling for maps, just touch where it says Touch Me.
Or for that matter, you might just find it fun to use instead of your Maps button to find your way home, since it's so convenient. Like a little homing pigeon.

~Going out to dinner? Oh boy, do I have some apps for you:
iSushi helps you find local restaurants that serve.. sushi!
Urbanspoon helps you find restaurants.
A tip calculator sure would be handy, right? I use the Tip Calc in 9-Toolbox since it also integrates other helpful apps and I only need 1 button for them all.

Gonna go to the movies while you're out?
~Showtimes is just what you need to find out what's playing and when local to you. You can even watch trailers.

Time for some relaxation at home after work or on the weekends?
~What's on TV? One of my favs. See what's on right now for you, and also mark your favorites. Then you can see when they'll be coming on next.
~Knitters and Crocheters will appreciate StitchMinder, a wonderful little stitch counter.
Also check out KnitMinder where you can catalog your patterns/yarns/needles. (But I do all mine on Ravelry! And I can add crochet there too! No app for it, but you can use the web on your phone.)

Ahh, everybody loves games and entertainment.
~ICanHasCheezburger. Yes, I can. Right here on my iPhone, anytime I want!
~iPet Pets virtual pet thing

~Lemonade Tycoon It's enough fun that I'd probably pay for it, if it wasn't free.
~TapTap Revenge 2 is a great game! If you're a fan of Guitar Hero, especially. I was lucky enough to catch this one for free.
~Airport Mania. I have only bought 3 apps, ever, and this is one of them. Very fun and you can try Lite for free.
~Katamari. There is a free version but I went ahead and forked out bucks for this one. It's one of my favorite games and I am a sucker for any game or app that does a good job of incorporating phone technology in for a practical (or fun) use somehow. Roll the ball, collect the stuff, pull up the people.
~Fish Tycoon. Another one that exists for free, but I wanted the paid version.
~CardShark. I'm sure there are plenty of great solitaire apps out there, but this is the first decent one I came across. You get a few different flavors of the game in here.
~Moonlight Lite - the first MaJohng app that I liked.
~WordPopper if you like to make words from random letters, like me.
~Another good/free word game, if you like to see how many words you can make from the letters, is Frozen Lexicon
~Whack 'em all! You gotta try this.
~CandyLite gives me my Bejeweled fix for free.
~And since I'm a World of Warcraft player, Warcraft Characters lets me keep track of my 'toons.
~BoomLite if you need your block-breaking fix, but I'm having a hard time advancing in this one.
~Pac-Man Lite because it's a classic, and it's cool because you can tilt the phone to play. Only first board free.

~I can't help it, I'm one of those hopeless people who play those silly casual browser games. Mafia, Mobster, Vampire, Medieval, Pirates. You know the ones, and they come in other flavors too. They're on Myspace and Facebook, too. Now I can carry them with me, via iMob, iKnights, iVamp, and Mafia Wars. Hey, if you play too, invite me with my Friend Code, 198523254

~If you like those types of games, also try this Storm8 "series" -
And add me if you play them! They're another linked set, where you can get benefits in one for playing the other, so if you play one, just download them all. Though, annoyingly, there's a different player ID in each one.
iMobsters QVZU3
Kingdoms ZMNNT1
Racing 2R44T3
Vampires Live 4Q1VQ

It's time for a trip or vacation!?
~Before you set out on your journey, whether it be on a hike, to an amusement park, or maybe just to the mall, I hope you remembered where you parked. To help you out in case you forget, just start up your handy TakeMeToMyCar app after you park. Don't forget that part or you're really screwed!
~There's another one called Take Me Home, I'm Lost! that does this same type of thing.

Still need more apps!?
~Keep an eye on BargainBin. As paid apps go on "sale" for free, you'll find them here!