Tag: iphone

  • Top 5 iPhone Apps I Use

    As they say, my dock is full. Kristen and I have been iPhone users for a couple of months now. So far we love it! One unintended consequence of using iPhone is that our monthly cell phone bill actually went down. Never expected that.

    Like most users, I actually use the phone part of the iPhone very little. That said, I use the iPod and wireless device parts all day. As of right now, here are the 5 apps I use the most.

    tweetieTweetie. I should clarify. Up until last night my most used app was Twitterfon. But Twitterfon was stupid and decided to drop a bunch of ads on their latest upgrade. I hate silent upgrades that dump in ads. I mean, I get it that they need revenue and all, but don’t ruin an app to do it! Anyway, Tweetie is a great Twitter app. It allows me to manage all my various accounts.

    yelp-icon100x100Yelp. I already use Yelp to post quick reviews of stuff as well as read up on places I want to visit. Now when I’m on the go I can use Yelp’s community driven review sites to chose places to eat… and even find addresses to places that are hard to find. (I like stuff that’s way off the beaten path!)

    mint-iphone-iconMint. Kristen and I use Mint to track all of our finances. So having a Mint iPhone app is a total bonus. This allows me to keep an eye on our accounts, spending, budget, and investments anywhere I am. If you are a an iPhone user but don’t use Mint… you should really think about checking it out. It is pretty powerful.

    google-reader-iphoneGoogle Reader. Technically, I don’t think this is an app. But if you bookmark it in Safari it becomes this sweet little app on your dock. I use Google Reader all day, everyday for my job. So being able to scan through endless vanity searches, twitter searches, and of course blog posts is essential. I love being able to read, share, and comment on stuff no matter where I am. As a few friends have pointed out… they can tell when I’m on the trolley because I’m sharing a lot!

    facebook-iconFacebook. What social media person wouldn’t love to have a mobile Facebook that is, in some ways, better than the web version? I love posting pictures and changing my status with my iPhone. So much less clutter.

    A few people have asked me to put together a list of apps for youth ministry. Give me a few weeks and I’ll definitely be posting about that.

  • Powered by the Letter “I”

    Two things dominated our Saturday. Ikea and iPhones.

    Actually, on the way to this epic fun we had lunch at In & Out Burger. I’m not a cult-fan of the burger joint but it was quick, easy, and not McDonald’s.

    ikeaIkea: There’s a pretty strong irony in our trip yesterday. When we moved across country in August we sold nearly all of our furniture. We had a rule of thumb that if it had been to California and back in 2002 & 2003 it wasn’t going in 2008. Then when we set up the house in August we made a massive trip to Ikea. We packed 4 of those big flatbeds to the gills and crawled our way to the checkout. They even had to break our receipt in half so that their strict delivery rules when get it all delivered.

    When we moved into the bigger place a few weeks ago we immediately recognized that the bedrooms all needed more stuff. Both kids bedrooms are huge and all they had was a dresser and a loft bed. So back to Ikea we went! We didn’t manage to get everything they needed yesterday. But we did add to each kids room a lamp, desk, and chair. Mom and dad also picked up some end tables, a TV stand for our bedroom, and a patio table for the backyard. It doesn’t look like Ikea has everything we need… so we’ll have to look at our second favorite furniture store, Target.

    apple-logoiPhones: Kristen and I have bounced back and forth on this forever. We didn’t upgrade when 3G released because one of our phones was still under contract. Then I really wrestled with the whole Blackberry vs. iPhone thing, then I decided in December I wanted an iPhone but I didn’t want to make a decision before I saw if Apple was going to release a new version. When Apple released a new Mac Mini, iMac, and Shuffle last week that was my signal that they weren’t rushing anything to production.

    With that, we headed to Fashion Valley Mall‘s Apple store to make our purchase. Though the store was slammed we were able to find a person who was perfectly happy to help us out. While the in-store activation thing is a bit annoying I can imagine this is the way to go on the macro level for Apple/AT&T. I wrapped things up in the Apple store while Kristen shopped at Crate & Barrel for a new blender. (Thank you community group for the gift card!) I’ll do a full review later for the iPhone 3G, but I will say my initial expectations were exceeded. Before I got to the car I had already synched my phone with my gmail account and installed a Facebook and Twitter app. The hardest part about the set-up was getting my contacts synched between gmail and Address Book on my Macbook. But now I have all of that taken care of and all of my contacts sorted into tidy groups. Next up is getting Kristen’s contacts and my contacts to synch… wouldn’t that be cool? If only it talked to our Highrise account…

    We spent most of the evening putting things together from Ikea. Twist, twist, twist, screw gun, screw gun, screw gun. All fairly simply and everyone is happier. We still have a long way to go until everything is put away from this last move but it is progressing nicely and we’ll be hosting a housewarming BBQ some time after Easter.

  • Blackberry or iPhone?

    I am tired of my phone. I’ve rocked my HTC 8525 for almost 2 years and it’s pretty much outlived it’s usefulness for me. The lack of battery life and the size of it really don’t help. It does some funny things… like I have alarms set on it that won’t stop. And it has calendar items from my time in Romeo that I can’t seem to delete. And since I’ve dropped it a couple of times, it sometimes flakes out completely. It’s been a workhorse and I’m ready to put it out to pasture.

    This has caused me to do some shopping. And I’m really at a loss of what to get. I like the idea of the Google phone, but I make it a habit to never by the first generation of anything tech. And smartphones are clearly out. So that leaves me with two choices, Blackberry or iPhone?

    Of course this is all tied to a bigger question. Do we finally drop our 10 year relationship AT&T? I’ve been abundantly honest about the fact that their customer service is horrid. And when you couple that with their unique ability to jack my bill up higher and higher all the time, it may be time to move to another provider… thus making Blackberry my only real choice.

    But here’s what I am thinking. I know I’m a power user. I also know that I’d love to have everything in my life be on a single platform. I wonder if there is any way they’d let me test drive both before making a decision? 2 years is a long time to hate a phone.

    The big thing going for the iPhone in my book is that it’s an interface I’m used to and like, I already know how much AT&T sucks, it’s a fun toy, I could sell my new nano, and I know that if I jacked it up Apple would fix it. The big thing going for the Blackberry is that it’s a proven performer. It’s a workhorse like my current phone. What it lacks in sex appeal it gains in functionality.

    Eh, I’ll probably sit on this one through the holidays. If I had to chose today I’d go with the Blackberry. I think the iPhone is cool. But at the end of the day, the iPhone doesn’t seem to be for power users.

  • Adam McLane, tech dork

    As if it were not official already. Last week I totally proved my tech dorkiness repeatedly. From randomly fixing computers to picking up the new MacBook to whimsically talking about PHP code and fixing a blog. Of course, this was on top of my normal compulsions to Twitpic all over the place, post to Twitter while driving, and some other things.

    We even joked about my starting a weekly “Tech Tip from Adam” for folks looking to get a little more dorky.

    But my dorkiness was confirmed forever on Friday. Going through the security screening at San Diego I popped open my bag and pulled out 2 MacBooks and my Smartphone. The Homeland Security guy just kind of stared at me.

    It’s true, I love technology. I love gadgets. I love being connected and learning new ways to connect. I guess that means I love being a dork. Wait until July 11th when I pick up the new iPhone.