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My iPhone Screens

My father just got an iPhone so I thought I would show him what apps are worth downloading.

The Google App. is one of my favorites, it provides a great jumping off point to quickly find info.  It also is one of the first apps that lets you use your voice as a input method.  Just select the app, hold the phone to your face, wait for the alert sound and say what you are looking for.

SimplifyMedia is the coolest media sharing app ever.  I wish all my friends used it.  Once installed on your MAC or PC, it shares your music collection over the internet just like you were on the same wifi hotspot with iTunes.  The iPhone program lets you stream your entire catalog to your phone.  I have 30GB of music on my Mac, but my iPhone is only an 8GB with SimplifyMedia I am no longer limited to the internal memory and can play anything from my home machine.

Apple Remote is a given.  It's pretty self explanatory.  It acts as a remote control for your Media over WiFi.  This works great at my lake house.  I have speakers out by the pool that are connected to my MacMini in the living room.  I can lounge by the pool and pick and choose what tunes we hear.

TouchType lets you type out emails in landscape mode, something that will be unnecessary if Apple ever writes that into any of the forthcoming updates.

Pandora is a terrific custom radio station.  Pick the artist you dig and it will play similar artist.

VNC is on all my handhelds.  You have to have a VNC server running on your machine, but then you can log into it with the phone and control the computer.  Its like a remote desktop.

Mobile News is the AP's news application.  I read through it several times a day.

BlogPress is a cool idea, hopefully it will be less buggy with updates.  It ties in nicely with Blogger and give you the ability to post blog updates from the phone.

Google Earth is amazing!  Just like the desktop version.

   

   

Crash Kart and Cube Runner are both games.  There fun, but I rarely use them.

Diggnation is one of my weekly vidcast that I watch.

eReeder is a eBook reeder that I've never used.

Evernote is awesome, it ties in with the desktop application.  You can take web clip, post notes and store info on a server and get access to it through this app.  It'll organize your life.

AirMe, Gyazickr, and Klick are all for uploading photos to the web.  Probably only need one, but I'm not sure which one is best.

Air Sharing connects your iPhone to your computer wirelessly and lets you transfer data back and forth.

iBeer simulates drinking a beer.  It's like drinking with none of the calories.

Jott is a cool service that records voice messages and translates them into text.

Labyrinth LE is a nice time waster when sitting waiting for something interesting to happen.

Shazam is similar to Midomi on the next page.

Flycast is a great radio station application.

Joost is awesome for watching tv, movies, and music videos.

Easy WiFi makes signing into WiFi hotspots much easier.  Especially helpful since AT&T grants access to it's 22,000 domestic hotspots at no additional charge.

 

Twitterrific is my favorite Twitter app.

Urbanspoon is a helpful locator for restaraunts.  Good when you can't make a choice of where to eat.

i.TV is a great tv guide program that also lets you check on your Netflicks Que.

Microsoft's Seadragon is just cool.  Get it and you'll see.

Vlingo is a cool voice guided search app.

Mint.com is my favorite financial monitoring site and this is their iPhone application.

VLC Remote is like the Apple Remote for VLC.  I use VLC on all my machines as the default video player.

Night Stand is nice for night time.  It just makes your whole iPhone into a retro looking clock.

CraigSearch searches Craigslist.

HearPlanet is a guided tour from your Phone.  It reads your location and then gives you both text and audio commentary on sights near you.

Slacker is the coolest online radio site.  I was anxiously waiting for the iPhone and Blackberry versions.  When I walk my newborn daughter, I play music from Slacker from my phone and set it in her bassinet.  She relaxes when music is playing.

Flixster gives info about movies in production.

That's it for now.  At the moment SlingPlayer is my most anticipated program.  I look forward to getting that one.  I'm a huge fan of their latest Blackberry offering.

That's it for now.  I hope you enjoy your new iPhone dad.  I love you.

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

BlogPress Maiden Voyage

This is the first post using BlogPress on the iPhone. I've been looking for some time for a blogging app that would work well with the iPhone and I hope this is it.




The main challenge I have had is posting multiple photos in a single blog post. I don't understand why you are limited to one photo per email in the mail app. Hopefully, that will change in a future update.



Here is a shot of Cherish at 1 day old. Today we are celebrating her 1 week birthday.

-- Post From My iPhone

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

This is so cool!

My new favorite website

Since learning that I'll be a father, I have begun taking my finances seriously. Mint is one of many sites that collects all your online accessible bank, charge, and loan accounts into one place. It then creates charts and graphs so you can learn quickly how you are spending and how your savings accounts are working.

They have just come out of Beta and have now added brokerage, mutual funds and 401K accounts. I highly recommend it.

Dramatic Chipmunk

Sarah Palin Rap

Jesus is a Friend of Mine

Oh yeah!

Mr. Mister - Broken Wings

ManBabies.com - DAD?

ManBabies.com - DAD?

GET MORE AT ManBabies.com!

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Superfriends meets Friends

I'll never again complain about LA traffic

Carlos Santana shreds

Wow, these guys rock!

I think this is the camera for me.


Last year I bought a Samsung digital camera for about 150 bucks to take with me to Europe with my band. It was a very cool little camera and took decent pictures but it would burn through batteries like there was no tomorrow. We continued to use it for the last year and had gotten quiet used to carrying a box of double "A" batteries with us whenever we traveled. However, it seemed that whenever we really wanted to take pictures we would have the camera but would have not brought spares and the stoopid camera would die. AAarrggg!
A week and a half ago, we finally broke down and bought a new camera. I chose the Nikon CoolPix s51. I got it on Thursday and only used it a bit on Saturday and wouldn't you know it, the battery died by Sunday morning. I was shocked that I just spent a bunch of money on a smaller prettier battery burner. It's a good thing I had my trusty Blackberry Curve 2. That thing is awesome, the camera is only 2 mega pixels but the flash is great and battery last forever.
So I went back to the major big box retailer where it was bought to exchange it. As I was at the counter trying to talk the store employee out of charging me a 15% restocking fee, the nice people at the counter next to me said, "excuse me, is that the Nikon S50?". It turns out they bought the same camera three weeks ago and after some battery issues brought it back in for repairs. It had been there for repairs for 2 weeks. That certainly helped my argument. Long story short... I was able to exchange it for a different camera and they didn't charge me the $60 restocking fee.


I chose the Sony DSC-T200 and I love it! The battery is lasting and the pictures are awesome. The coolest thing is that there is a smile detector. You put it in this mode and you can stare right into the lens for awhile, but as soon as you smile it takes a picture! It's crazy spooky. In addition to the smile detector, it has a 3.5" touch screen. So far, I'm really happy with it. Let's see how long this gadget appreciation last.

The Original Pilot for 24

Bat for Lashes - What's a Girl To Do

While Netflix Lowers Their Rates, Blockbuster Online Raises Theirs...A Lot

How timely. I just posted about my preference for NetFlix over the weekend. It looks like I made the right choice.Netflix recently lowered their rates for their 3-disc plan to $16. Blockbuster's response? Raise their rates by 40% of course! "I just got an email an hour or so ago from Blockbuster Online telling me that the 3 movies and unlimited in store exchanges for $17.99 plan that I am on was going away." It will now cost $25/month.

read more | digg story

Post from techdirt

NetFlix Hopes Good Customer Service Will Keep Mail Boxes Stuffed With Red Envelopes

from the nice-talking-with-you dept

Although Blockbuster sat on its heels for a long time while NetFlix gobbled up market share, the company has aggressively fought back this year, prompting a lot of pain at NetFlix. NetFlix stock has been pummeled lately as its been drawn into a price war in order to stem customer churn. The problem is that its business model is easily replicated, which partly explains the company's attempt to assert a patent on it. However, the company does appear willing to actually compete, which is refreshing. The New York Times reports on the company's unorthodox decision to offer customer support services from friendly sounding Oregonians (as the company puts it), rather than rely on offshoring or email support. Although this is an expensive move, the company feels it will prove to be a key differentiator as it battles back Blockbuster. Obviously, good customer support means happier customers, while bad customer support can turn customers away. But the lesson isn't that companies should immediately stop all offshoring of these services. Rather, it's important for companies to think of customer support strategically and weigh the various costs and benefits, rather than just going on the lowest-price option.

from: http://techdirt.com/articles/20070816/110100.shtml

My thoughts; Back when I used to rely on Blockbuster for my video and then later DVD entertainment, it was a common pain to be called by their automated service claiming I had media to return.  Often the calls would come during my rental period and other times I would receive them after returning said videos.  Additionally, how many of us got bit hard by returning a few movies one day late and being charged 3 or 4 dollars per video.  Since moving to NetFlix shortly after they came online, I rarely have to go to the video store to pick up a movie.  NetFlix has been awesome to me as a customer.  I think it has only happened twice, but when a returned movie gets lost and they just forget about it and move on, you thank the good Lord that you are dealing with NetFlix and not Blockbuster.  I love that they are using Oregonians for customer care, I happen to think they are the nicest people as well especially since i am one.

I would pay more for Netflix to use them over Blockbuster any day.  I am looking forward to their streaming service working for the Mac, that will make me very happy. 

Death to Blockbuster, Long live NetFlix.

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