iPhone
This tip calculator isn't ugly, doesn't suck to use.
I'd tip that.
Tipulator is a cute little tip calculator and bill splitter by a rad company called Tap Tap Tap. I don't usually pull it out unless I'm splitting a particularly hideous bill, but it has come in handy a few times. I'm personally keeping an eye out for their grocery list app as well.
Stage Hand makes Mac Keynote presentations seamless.
"Get a remote" is one of Seth Godin's Nine Steps to Powerpoint Magic. But what if you don't use PowerPoint?
Stage Hand is the ultimate Keynote remote. It shows you slide notes and previews, keeps a timer, and lets you jump around your presentation with ease. I used this app for my last presentation, and it made the whole thing not just seamless, but amazing.
Superer than regular Monkey Ball.
This game far Superer than regular Monkey Ball. This game is addictive, and a ton of fun :)
Tap Tap Revenge.
Better than DDR. Better than Guitar Hero for Nintendo DS. Tap Tap Revenge is even two player so you can challenge your friends!
In my opinion, Tap Tap Revenge has done a great job of monetizing a free iPhone app. I'm not sure how their cashflow is, but I do love the subtle and appropriate integration of ads in this beautiful app.
Galcon rocks my phone.
Galcon is fast-paced and fun little space shooter type galaxy conquest game. Get Check out this video to get an idea of how rad this game is. Then get the game, because it's way radder than a video can show you. If you need a bit more convincing, there's a "lite" version that you can try, free of charge.
This game is a Classic
What system is complete without breakout? This one's attractive and reasonably priced.
Sudoku is my latest subway addiction.
Of all the sudoku apps in the App Store, this is my favorite. It's quick, attractive, and easy to use. It has really cute themes, too. It's the perfect subway app. Pull it out, play for a minute or two between stops, then quit or lock your phone. Your game will be right there when you get back.
Super-ultra-cool music streaming, courtesy of Last.fm.
Any app that streams music to my phone is cool. Any app that does it as well as Last.fm's native iPhone app is super-ultra-cool. This one is kinda like Pandora's iPhone app, but taps into your Last.fm/Audioscrobbler profile to give you music that's similar to the stuff you already listen to on your computer with iTunes.
Get Pandora on your iPhone while you still have the chance.
Pandora radio almost makes mp3s obsolete. Thanks to the Music Genome Project, Pandora lets you make and train personalized internet radio stations that are catered to your taste, and recommends related music based on what it knows you like. You can even listen to stations created and shared by your friends.
With the Pandora iPhone app, you can access all the stations you already created at Pandora.com, and you can stream unlimited music to your iPhone or iTouch. Well, unlimited until your battery runs out.
Note: If Pandora gets shut down before you have a chance to enjoy this app, be sure to check out the iPhone streaming music player from Last.fm. It does a lot of the same thing, and looks like it might be around for a bit longer.
Take your chat with you: Multi-protocol MobileChat app.
Use Gtalk, AIM, MSN and more. MobileChat is a great little multi-protocol chat app that keeps your chat sessions even if your internet connection drops. It can send you text messages or email notices if you're offline. Whether you want to be that connected or not is your choice...
Jaadu is my desktop Mac's missing multitouch touchpad.
You might not like this as much as I do, but it's really stinkin' cool. With this software, you can use your touch screen as a touch pad or remote for your Mac. You can control movies or iTunes with a touch. I love this one, but YMMV.
If this app sounds cool, but you don't think you'll use the full functionality, check out Jaadu Click. It does a lot of the remote functionality, but is significantly cheaper. It's also a great way to test the app before dropping a handful of cash for the full meal deal.
Evernote's native iPhone app isn't too shabby.
Evernote is a cool system that lets you keep photos, notes, thoughts and more all in one online profile, which you can access from the web, or via a native app on your iPhone, iTouch or your Mac or PC. This app integrates well with Evernote. If you're an Evernote user, or you think you might be, this program is for you1.
Get Evernote for iPhone/iTouch
- 1. I just couldn't give this app more <3 because I'm not fully converted to Evernote in general. I'll get back to you once I've done more than poke at it.
Productivity pr0n with Appigo ToDo, Remember The Milk, and over-the-air sync.
I really like getting things done1. And Appigo's ToDo is the perfect enabler. Not to be confused with the poser apps called To Do and To-do, Appigo's ToDo is the perfect balance of simplicity and functionality. It's easy to enter tasks, categorize, sort and check things off your list. With the latest release, ToDo has a "quick add" input, which makes adding tasks almost too easy. Best of all, ToDo syncs over wi-fi with Remember The Milk and Toodledo, so your to-do list isn't confined to your pocket.
- 1. Note that it's the lower-case version of the phrase… There's nothing wrong with Getting Things Done, but it's a bit too structured and dogmatic for my tastes.
Go buy Trism for your iPhone.
This game is amazing. It wasn't even possible to make a puzzle game this sweet until the iPhone/iTouch. I can play it when I have a minute, or I can waste hours at a time. Trism:iTouch::Tetris:arcades.
Get Trism in the iTunes App Store
Save real cash with Save Benjis.
This app has already paid for itself and more. Well, it was free, but it would have paid for itself... You can compare prices or look up deals by keyword or UPC anywhere you have an internet connection. And don't tell anyone I told you, but I've heard that you might be able to use it to get in-store price matches.
Apple's Remote might be my favorite iPhone app.
This is definitely one of the best free apps in the iTunes App Store: Apple's remote lets you take control of your entire iTunes library so you never have to get out of your LoveSac. The latest version even has full Genius Playlist support. :)
1Password's native iPhone app: In a word, disappointing.
1Password is the best security software ever written for a Mac. I've been a great evangelist for the app, and I've personally recruited over a dozen customers. Their my1Password service is really slick. It lets me synchronize passwords between all my computers and access my secure passwords on any internet connected computer. So I was understandably excited to hear that they were making a native iPhone app.
In short: The new 1Password iPhone app is pretty, but that's where the usefulness ends.
Note: As of version 2.9, 1Password again includes the ability to sync with Safari bookmarklets. I use this method to auto-fill passwords on my iPhone, as I find it far more useful than the native iPhone app reviewed below. Since Agile has decided to allow both methods, you can decide for yourself which sync method to use.
Before the native app, 1Password had iPhone support via javascript bookmarklets. It was a clever little hack that allowed filling forms in MobileSafari before Apple even mentioned the possibility of third-party apps.
I understand that there are stability issues with the 1Password bookmarklets. I understand that Apple's restrictions make it difficult to extend MobileSafari the right way. Instead of addressing these issues, 1Password's native iPhone app uses their own proprietary browser. Who decided "let's roll our own replacement browser" was a good alternative?
When I'm browsing the web on my iPhone, I'm doing it in MobileSafari. When I open an email with a link I want to visit, I click it. Clicking on any link in any app on my iPhone it takes me to MobileSafari. Without 1Password support in the browser I have to close MobileSafari, open the 1Password app, enter a password or two, look up my password, open MobileSafari again, head back to the site I was using and type in my login credentials. Amazingly seamless login process, right?
I suppose they'd prefer me to browse the web in their 1Password proprietary browser. The one without bookmark syncing. The one that doesn't even have bookmark support. The one without tabs. The one without a search link. I can't even enter a url, I have to use the ones prefilled in my 1Password database... So please, remind me how this is better than the javascript bookmarklets?
If Apple had given me a mechanism for copy/paste, it might be usable, if a bit annoying, to copy and paste urls or passwords between 1Password and MobileSafari. If cookies were shared between MobileSafari and 1Password's lamesauce browser, I could at least enter credentials in 1Password then head back to a real browser to use the site. If I could bookmark sites in my desktop browser then visit those sites in 1Password's proprietary browser, that might make things easier. If 1Password actually provided a full-featured browser, I could understand using it for sites that require credentials. Unfortunately, none of these is the case.
Until these issues are resolved, I'm keeping an older copy of 1Password on my desktop so I can keep my javascript bookmarklets up-to-date. Unfortunately that means I'll miss out on the fancy new 1Password features, but I think it's worth the sacrifice.
Read more about the 1Password iPhone app here
