Well, I feel the need to come clean. Back when Time Machine was first introduced into OS X, I found it restrictive and quite useless. In fact, my exact words were: “a complete waste.” It has been some time since that post and we’re now a couple of versions ahead on OS X, but Time Machine remains largely unchanged from the day it was introduced — and quite frankly, I’m okay with that.
I think it’s safe to say that Apple’s iPhone has taken the smartphone market by storm. In a recent report issued by iSupply, analysts predict (at worst) a 16% growth in the smartphone market segment for 2009. When you consider that 2008 moved over 173 million smartphones, you can see why many companies want a piece of that pie. With Apple claiming 8% market share in the smartphone market, it’s still trailing behind Nokia and RIM. Last year alone, however, iPhone sales were up 245%! Not bad for being a relative newcomer.
That’s a lot of numbers up there, but it all boils down to one thing: the iPhone is juicy with opportunity. Which means that many folks out there want to play in the sandbox. Including yours truly. But where do you start? Particularly if you have no previous knowledge of the C language? Or Object Oriented Programming for that matter?!
Now, I don’t claim to know how to develop for the iPhone…yet. But these are things and resources I have found so far:
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I’m always surfing Apple’s AppStore looking for new (and useful) apps for my trusty iPhone. I have to say that I haven’t been terribly impressed with the current offerings at the AppStore, and I’m sure a lot of that has to do with the steep learning curve of developing a decent app. Not to mention Apple’s insistence on disabling key features that cripple the iPhone’s usability (but that one’s been beaten to death already, so I won’t go there).
Regardless, my iPhone has become an indispensable part of my daily productivity, and I am constantly on the lookout for apps to help me in some way. Out of the thousands of apps, however, there are only a handful that I have truly find to be useful (or enjoyable) to me. I have downloaded dozens upon dozens of apps - only to be frustrated by their limitations, or lack of features and poor usability. Most have been immediately deleted, some have survived. Among them are the following:
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Tweetie This is my favorite Twitter app. For the longest time, I was using the free TwitterFon, which I liked a lot. But after trying Tweetie, I really liked the extended feature set (search mainly). The interface is nice and polished and functions very well. |
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Things There are more to-do apps for the iPhone than there are iPhones it seems, and it took me a long time to land on one that I truly liked. Cultured Code’s Things fit the bill, but not without some behavior modification on my part. Things is based on David Allen’s GTD (Getting Things Done) system - a flexible to-do system to which I’m still having trouble adhering to. Regardless, it is already one of my most indispensable apps. Though I do wish it would sync with the “cloud” - a feature they promise is coming soon. |
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Ambiance This little gem has come in handy more times than I ever dreamed it would. It’s a nicely designed app that does one thing and it does it well. It plays ambient sounds. It has lulled me to sleep while traveling without fail - and even at home I have turned to its soothing sounds for better sleep. The newest version is a big departure from the “classic” app, but it adds some great functionality like an alarm, and downloadable sounds. Love it. |
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Shazam One of the two music-related apps I have (besides the built-in iPod app) is Shazam. An incredible piece of software that takes a short sampling of whatever tune is playing on the radio/tv/etc. and in a short while, tells you exactly what song it is, who sings it, and where to get it. The magic behind this app is a big mystery to me, but however it does it, it has worked every time I’ve put it to the test! |
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Pandora If you’re anything like me, you have gigs and gigs of music on your iPhone, and yet, you find yourself craving something different. Well, if you haven’t already, grab Pandora! Tell it what song you want to hear, and it automagically creates a playlist of similar tunes for you. I have discovered a bunch of new music using this app, which is both a blessing and a curse - since it means I have to buy it. |
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Showtimes Surely you have been roaming about when all of a sudden you get the brilliant idea to catch a flick. Bust open Showtimes and let it locate the nearest theaters to you, then check out what’s playing. Not sure what the movie is? Watch the trailer right on the app. Now just cross your fingers that the movie doesn’t suck. |
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USA Today I’m not exactly a news junky, but I do like knowing what goes on in the world. Though I do it many times a day, I find it cumbersome to open up my browser and type out www.cnn.com. USA Today’s news app was well thought out, well executed, and nice to look at. I do wish it were easier to access even more stories, but it does its job exceptionally well. |
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Groups One of my most hated apps on the iPhone is Mail. It was a poorly thought out application with so many limitations it just makes me cringe every time I try to use it. In fact, I’m positive that if Apple were to fix its email and calendar programs to make them more business-friendly, they would make an even worthier contender to the Blackberry. Regardless, one of the lacking features in Mail is the ability to email your address book’s groups. (Currently, you have to enter each group member’s address separately). Enter Groups, a nice little app that allows you to manage your contacts and groups right on the iPhone. Timesaver galore! |
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1Password In this digital age, I have so many username/password combos you’d think I actually have important stuff I’m trying to protect! Unfortunately, in order to navigate the many web services out there, you need some security, and therefore, you need to remember all these u/p combos. Save yourself the headache and grab a copy of 1Password for your mac, then sync it with your 1Password for the iPhone, and never worry about what fake email you signed up to that service for. |
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Feeds I have long felt the same way Khoi Vinh feels about RSS readers. I have gone through reader after reader and have finally landed on Google Reader, it being the least offensive to me - but still pretty bad in my opinion. In order to keep up with the many subscriptions I go through daily, I needed an app that would sync with my Reader account. Feeds was the best one I could find, and though there are many things I’d like to see changed in it, it sure beats having to go to the Google App (which I don’t care for in case you didn’t notice). |
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Deep Green I’m not a gamer, and I’m especially not an iPhone gamer. But I do have some games on my iPhone, mainly because I find their use of interfaces intriguing - and I like to test them out. (When I say some, I mean about 5). Among them is my favorite Chess game - Deep Green. Beautifully designed, and no crazy bells and whistles. Just plain ol’ chess - and a chess engine that kicks my trash EVERY stinkin’ time! Wish it had some time of online multi-player mode - but then again, I think getting beat by my phone is enough humiliation each day. |
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Scriptures This one is a life-saver for me (no pun intended). It is a full library of LDS works including General Conferences, Manuals, and Scriptures with cross-linking and highlighting capabilities. A bit pricey, but worth every penny! Now if they could just come up with a better looking startup screen and icon. Ugh. |
Other apps that I use regularly but did not include in my review here are:
Facebook, Amazon, Tip Star, Urbanspoon, Scrabble, and most recently Kindle. Anything else I should be looking at?
Anyone who works with interactive media for a living knows that social communication platforms have been around for some time, but large companies (who have a tendency to move slowly but impact everything in their path) are just now learning to understand how to use these tools. What will this mean for social media? Well, we’re not quite sure yet, but there is one organization that aims to find out.
The good folks at Best Buy have agreed to host the Social Media Club (a newly formed national organization dedicated to everything related to social media) this Friday at 8am. In case this sounds interesting to you (and if you work in the field, it really should), Doug Pollei has posted more information on this event.
Well, this should certainly prove to be interesting. Looks like Adobe is making some interesting changes to the licensing of Flash — particularly in the mobile device front — where it has now decided not to charge licensing fees and has opened up the API to anyone with a keyboard!
I find the move particularly interesting as Microsoft continues to push its Silverlight software in an effort to topple Flash’s foothold. Could this be Adobe’s preemptive measure against Redmond? Or are they thinking ahead in order to dominate the rich mobile market as they have done with web browsers? Only time will tell, but my gut tells me that Adobe’s sites are dead set on the multi-billion dollar world of mobile technology.
Here’s to hoping Apple gets their junk together and uses this as an opportunity to add Flash to the iPhone. Bottom-line is, whether they like it or not, Flash is all over the web, and no mobile web browsing experience will ever be complete unless you’re able to completely browse as you would on your pc.
