iPhone Apps

some Lonely Planet European cities free until Thursday 11:59 pm GMT

I noticed that a whole bunch of Lonely Planet travel guides for major European cities (London, Paris, Rome, etc.) are temporarily free due to Iceland's volcanic eruption. Get them before the offer expires Thursday 11:59 pm GMT!

I downloaded all the free cities. Yay!

List of cities at Free iPhone guides for stranded travellers – Lonely Planet blog.

 

Everyday use:
facebook
traffic.com
pandora
weather channel
stocks

Sometimes:
masters (live streaming during the Masters)
airvue golf gps ($10 special during Masters)

Games (for my 4-yr old son)

tap tap revenge
rockband ($8)
super why ($2)
cooking mama lite

I also use Voice Memo to record the simple piano pieces that my son is learning (which I have to play since there are no recordings) and move them into an album in the iPod, with a photo of him as album art so he can find and listen to them. The trick really works!

 

My latest app addiction : Plants Vs Zombies.

Actually, I liked this game so much I ended up buying the full PC version as well. PopCap is awesome. Now all they need to do is port Bookworm Adventures to the iphone/ipad.

 

Millions of years of evolution, thousands of years of civilisation, hundreds of years of technology, and the latest and greatest is...simulated wobbly bits. Ooh. Ahhh.

 

"simulated wobbly bits"... too funny.
I think I'll stick with the real ones in front of me, thank you. That ap's about as pointless as the fart piano one (which even my 6 year old only enjoyed for about 3 minutes).


My favorite app is cleary tapfarm. Totally addicted to it. Forunately, that only means a few minutes a day of time to tend the farm.

 

I find the following useful

trapster.com....free
Tells you where the speed traps, signal camera locations are and you participate by sending in info. Very handy in camera crazy L.A. who needs the money.

scanner911.....free
Know what's going on in your 'hood or all over the world. Law enforcement busy at work 24/7 In L.A. break-ins, car chases, stolen vehicles, screaming women, drug deals, prostitutes, you name it all before 8:00am.

kbb.com...free
Kelly Blue Book. You will be surprised to see what your Prius is worth even with all the recalls.

wine ratings guide.....$3.99
Worth the cost of a glass of real cheap wine. You can check what you are buying in the store or what your guests brought for dinner.

mixology.....free
Your guest wants to drink a Night in Old Mandalay. You look it up and make him happy.

globeconvert....free
Convert currency, weight, length, etc. etc.

tipstar.....free
Can't calculate the tip between 5 buddies after a hearty lunch. Then whip this out. Has choice of % you want to pay per person

koi pond......$0.99
vegetate and meditate and fall asleep

iGun pro lite,.....free
Got pissed off at something, pull this out, select your weapon, load up and shoot at will. AmmoBob probably has this.

 

Update:

Use Frequently:

Don't use iCatchall much anymore, found two better all-in-one apps, App Beast (I now use their Tally Counter as my insurance against butt calling) and AppBox Pro (best random number generator I found yet).

Still use Todo's (sic) daily and Accuweather frequently.

Replaced Sleepmaker with Ambiance - you can download any of their hundreds of sounds.

Wapedia, the best Wikipedia app I've found (I like it better than Wikipedia's own app).

Wunder Radio - expensive, but worth it. Not only is it the best radio app out there, but it has a HUGE archive of old-time radio shows AND a dedicated weather station for YOUR area.

As for games, you can't go wrong with any of the Electronic Arts games. Avoid GamesFree (dozens of games bundled, haven't found one I like), get Gamebox (28 games and more added all the time, several of which would be great even as stand-alone games).

Finally, good for Wow factor:

SpawnHD
Awesome Ball.
Penn & Teller Chat (I've actually successfully used this on a couple of people)
If you like Bloom, you'll like Trope (made by the same guys) and Air (the previous two were made by Brian Eno and some other guy; this was made by the guy who isn't Brian Eno but I actually like it better than Bloom or Trope) and Aura (heavily inspired by Bloom).

 

I've found some more cool apps for my iTouch:

Optime Checkers. I'm really not a checkers player, but it's a time-passer. I cannot tell if there's a difference between the free version and the 99 cent version. But when I like a program, I'll give them the buck.

Finger Physics. This is kind of fun. The implementation leaves something to be desired. But it's still pretty cool.

10 Pin Shuffle. Really cool app. Very well done. Worth the $4. Actually three games in one app: Shuffleboard, bowling, and a peculiar game that combines bowling with five-card-draw poker.

TicTacFree. Tic Tac Toe is maybe the stupidest game in the world. But it's free.

I've downgraded Catchamouse to my "I never use these" page due to its habit of misreading my finger touch and thinking I touched a different hole than the one I did.

I'm beginning to get bored with Zakks, but I still play Solitaire City Lite (free), which I like more than Solitaire City Classic (99 cents).

Shatterball remains high on my recommended list. I've solved all 60 levels, but some of them were demonic in their difficulty and required days of continuously trying.

And of course Fritz Chess, the best of the desktop chess programs, is also great as an iTouch/iPhone app.

 

Can 10 Pin Shuffle even be played on the iPod/iPhone? I have it on my iPad and it is a great game in that environment. But the screen real estate on the iPod/iPhone seems a bit small for a 'proper' push.

 

I've been playing it on my iTouch ever since I downloaded it while on my hiking trip in Canada. (No phone service at the lodge, but they have wi-fi.) It works great. I'm not very good at it, but I score better on it than I would in a real bowling alley. I have not signed up for peer-to-peer. The wi-fi is slow at these wilderness lodges.

 

Best/Most Used/Favorite

Apple Remote - Control iTunes/Apple TV. Stream music wirelessly to my kitchen using an Airport Express.
iControl AV - controls inputs and volume on my surround sound receiver.
Red Laser - Barcode scanner for price shopping while at Best Buy or similar stores.
Yelp! - Get reviews and info for nearby restaurants.
Open Table - Make reservations at those restaurants.
Mint.com - Track spending/budgets electronically by integrating automatically with your bank/credit card websites.
Pandora - Streaming radio that adjusts to my tastes.
WeatherBug - Good weather app w/radar.
Engadget/Digg - Social news & blogs.
Shredder Chess - Good engine/puzzles.

 

i-Freecell is a nice Solitare clone:

i-Freecell for iPhone, iPod touch (2nd generation), iPod touch (3rd generation), and iPad on the iTunes App Store

 

'Foodprint' would be a good one. Just scan the item to get a readout of the environmental impact of the item you're considering.

'CoffeeSnob' could give you ratings of nearby sources of quality brew. Add-ons could indicate the time in minutes since the beans were roasted at each location, and a primo version with an olfactory port could tell you whether the person who picked the beans was a virgin.

'CoffeeSlut' could tell you where the nearest cup of coffee could be found. There wouldn't need to be any ratings, because when you're a slut, it's quantity, not quality.

'SimEarth' could show current planetary disasters, extreme weather events, and percentage of fresh water remaining.

 

Sound like good apps. Except that FoodPrint requires the camera, which my iTouch does not have. I suspect that CoffeeSnob and CoffeeSlut probably already exist, under other names. SimEarth would be easy to write. No matter what you enter, it could just say, "Kiss your nice person goodbye." Can we say "nice person" here?

The app I want is GirlFriend. I could point the device at a woman and it would tell me if she's got the hots for me.

 

I limit my apps to the truly useful:

TC (GPS)
Sunrise and Sunset
Pocket Universe (excellent for the night sky)
GPS (Motion X) - very good
SPL Meter (sound meter - very good)
Public Radio (works locally and across the country)

 

Are you saying that Doodle Jump is not "truly useful"?

 

OK, I wrote said app.

Step 1) Point device at woman in question.
Step 2) Click on this link.

You can also save that graphic to use it offline.

 

If you don't already that device, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof, that could be your problem right there.

 

Like because I blew 2+ hours playing it in one sitting:
Civilization Revolution - free for a limited time. Pick it up before they starting charging again.
If you liked Sid Meier's Civilization on your PC, you should like this. I tried it and be warned, it's just about as addictive (and time consuming) as Civ was when I played it long ago on the PC.

Good for Wow Factor:
Siri - free - personal assistant that uses voice recognition. Apple bought the company. Go to http://siri.com/ and watch video at http://siri.com/about/ for examples of what it can do.

 

5-0 Radio is a great Police Scanner program to let you hear the Highway Patrol.
Last time I got a ticket for 102 mph. I thought about it after I saw the black & white.