My Fabulous iPhone

LET ME BE YOUR IPHONE GURU!

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Put Things Off: micromanagement free task list for iphone!

 

What is it?

Put Things Off is a fun, bloat-free way to organise your day on the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Who's it for?

Busy people who don't have time to categorise, geotag, sync or generally micromanage their tasks.

How does it work?

It's easy. Just store tasks in your inbox as you think of them. Star a few to do today. Put off the rest. (They'll move to your today tray
when they're due.)

I downloaded this last night after Angela Esnouf from Creating Order From Chaos alerted me about it. Thanks Angela - it's great. I admit I am a great fan of GTD etc but this app is absolutely brilliant and I'm going to test it out. A common complaint of the gtd and similar productivity methods is the amount of time it takes to manage the system. I downloaded this and got the hang of it within minutes. Can't wait to put it to the complete test - 7 days starting Monday. 

Buy here - $2.99 US/$3.99AUD
See the demo at Spiffing Apps.

Wishlist: Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone

Now I would really like one of these. It's a cover for the iPhone which doubles the unfortunately pathetic battery life we have come to know and put up with.

More info from Mophie website here. Have seen them advertised in Australia on MacStylez at a hefty $164.95 but they are 'temporarily out of stock'.  Does anyone have their hands on one in Australia for the 3G? Please let us know where you purchased if this is the case.

iPhone App purchases: you need patience

Us iPhone users can be an impatient mob. I was waiting for PocketInformant (a full featured calendar/task tool) to appear in the apps store for what seemed like months. When it landed I forked out the $15 being the desperate puppy that I was and then sort of panicked because it wasn't behaving too well. There has been an update since and the software does seem a lot more stable and usable but I'm really waiting for the features in the next couple of releases before I will feel completely comfortable about giving it a fair review.

Similar situation with TwitterBox. I love the concept of this app - it gives me boxes to group the people I follow in. I have a gold box, a silver box, a celeb box, and a tech box. The problem with the app is that it is diabolically unstable. I zip in there to catch up on my boxes and before I've finished reading their tweets I'm thrown out. I've asked if stability will be addressed and solved in the next release (currently with Apple as I write) but I've not had an answer.

The bottom line is that although we are so lucky to receive great software for the iPhone it does seem that early adopters are really 'beta testers' who have forked out cash. My recommendation before spending too freely in the app store is to read reviews and ask around on twitter before deciding if you want to invest time in software that is less than satisfactory with regard to promised performance.

Looking forward to app updates - watch this space for reviews of Pocket Informant and Twitterbox.

iPhone screen shot reminder system

There might be occasions when you need a shot of something on your iPhone. The most common reason might be that you find something either on the web, on twitter, in the application store or inside an application that requires you to remember to do something - an error inside an application for instance.What you could do especially if you are without pen and paper is take a screen shot then email it to yourself as a reminder.

Hold down the power switch and the home button at the same time - the picture will go to your photo library ready for sending by email with a note about what has to be done if necessary.

Quad Camera mulitishot fun!

Dear iPhone
You are just impossible, my darling! Here I am out of the city for a few days trying to 'switch off' and just enjoy the scenery and friendship so kindly offered by my close friend at her lovely beach house. You however persuade me to take you in my hands and use you. How could I resist taking some shots from the gorgeous balcony with Quad Camera and annoyingly emailing them to the boys back home?

Quad Camera is a cool little iPhone App currently selling for $2.49AUD or $1.99USD. You take 4 or 8 shots to create one image either 2x2, 4x1, 4x2 or 8x1. Four effects are possible - bright, vivid, high contrast or black and white. Resolution is 800x600. There is a Flickr group if you ate keen. Quad camera is one of my favourite 'for fun' applications.

Shape Up Club

Dear iPhone,

You know I truly love you to bits but if you will be the final tool that helps me get rid of these pesky extra kilos I will truly be yours for life! In the past I've used both the desktop and Palm Treo versions of Calorie King - and have found them very helpful. I was in a panic because they have not come to the low kilojoule party by coming up with an app for the iPhone. They must be slightly crazy but I'm wondering if they've just been left in the dark with all the focus on Biggest Loser.
Biggest Loser is a great site - the branding is the big pull - little do Australians know they COULD get similar info and tools from Calorie King however not even the Biggest Loser has a decent iPhone app.

Shape Up Club seems to be the best calorie, nutrition & exercise diary for the iPhone. Eveyrthing about it is elegant and easy to use. There is a before/after photograph area (ugh). The food database is extensive and thanks to an upload feature any custom foods added (including Australian brands) are accessible to all users. The graphs are lovely. There is backup (in case of losing/damaging your phone). There is a water counter (thank goodness). I'm loving this application to bits and can't wait for an upgrade that will provide a website/community and synchronisation. Comprehensive video tutorials are available on the website as are a complete list of all features. Brilliant and inexpensive - I couldn't be more impressed.

You, my iPhone are going to accompany me on this weight loss journey and it's going to be fun thanks to the people at Shape Up Club.

love,




Shape Up Club Website
iTunes App Store (0.99 USD/ $1.19AUD)

ps next Monday when the graph is still pointing downwards I'll publish my results but if any other Shape Up Club users want to join me please just add to the comments what your goal is and how you are going... accountabilit is the key :-)

Twittelator 2.0 packs some serious Twitter punch review from Smoking Apples

A large number of iPhone users agree that Tweetie has the most favourable user interface experience. I have also been experimenting with Twittelator (although not the new 'pro' verison as mentioned in the article linked to here. For an extensive review of Twittelator 2.0 read on the link below and see how it compares to Tweetie.

Twittelator 2.0 packs some serious Twitter punch | Smoking Apples

I do keep wishing and hoping that Tweetie would bring in some group or sub group support of friends. Once the numbers get high it makes it so difficult keeping up with those tweeps that stand out from the crowd!

iBlueAngel Magic Web Browser for iPhone/iPod Touch

There was a bit of fuss in the blogosphere last October when Opera Mini's attempt at getting into the Apple App store was rejected. Some said it was because the software was too much competition to Safari. Read more here.

I find it strange that iBlueAngel has therefore been given entry. It's a browser with a lot more functionality than Safari. You can cut and paste to email text to email (bliss), download PDF documents and save screenshots to your photo album. I've just been learning about all the great things to do and so far am quite happy with it. At $5.99AUD it's not the cheapest app in the shop but I'm thinking the added productivity will make up for that.

Has anyone else tried iBlueAngel and if so what do they think? I'll review in more depth once I've nailed it!

iBlueAngel Magic Web Browser - App store link
iBlue Angel website - includes 'skinny' user guide formatted for iPhone

Australian GST Calculator

Thank goodness for Chris Gummer. He's taken all the headaches out of GST calculations by developing this free Aussie GST Calculator. After all these years it still does my head in so I'm loving this simple tool.

iTunes store link here.

Do you take your iPhone to bed?

 

Remember when Madonna and Guy Ritchie were sort of in trouble after a magazine article revealed that they both slept with their blackberries under the pillow "in case they remembered something they had to do and needed to jot it down on the phone"?

It seemed that after the divorce was announced a lot of critics were blaming (among others) Madonna's bed time rituals.

I have had my iPhone for 6 months now and suddenly realised this week that I was close to suffering a mild addiction to it. We all know the iPhone is not really a phone at all. Once you start making trips down the aisles of the iTunes application store you can be in serious trouble.

Aside from the usual suspects Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Email, and RSS Readers here are some of the applications that have 'kept' my iPhone in the bedroom.

Binaural beat soundtracks - these are supposed to help you relax and sleep. I found I wasn't using them until the very end of my surfing, tweeting, facebooking and emailing though. Sure they sent me to sleep but some times it was 1.30am and I probably would have gone to sleep anyway! NB: I will write another post about the binaural applications when I have more experiences to report. It's an interesting area.

e-Books - The curious tale of Benjamin Buttons and many more - hmmmm...

Gratitude Journal - this is a great program and I"ve been fairly religious at filling it out. The only problem is that if I was leaving it to late at night I of course would NEED to take the phone to bed to write my five gratitude items.

Sudoku - crazy thing to do when you are trying to get to sleep  - waking up the brain!

Alarm Clock - one excuse... yes that I need the phone by the bed so I can set the nice alarms on it and know what time it is should I be woken in the middle of the night.

This is the plan. As per Leo Babauta's "The Power of Less" I'm going to set limits. The iPhone is staying out of the bedroom. This week I will buy an old -school analogue alarm clock. One that doesn't glow in the dark and keep me awake!

After this week also as recommended by Leo I'm going to reserve the evenings for personal and family time. David Pogue, Technology Writer for the New York Times said "There are 15,000 applications on the iTunes store - how am I ever going to find time to review them all!"This was possibly the thought that tipped me over the edge enough to claim back my sleep. There will always be infinite sites, applications and ideas to read, review and state opinions about. If I try to do it all I will probably DIE!

I am now filling out my gratitude journal BEFORE 10pm (should I set an alarm on the phone to remind me to do that?) I'm reading a REAL book to unwind if necessary.

Really I do love my iPhone but enough is enough. I have to sleep and so does it otherwise we will burn out! Do you take yours to bed and is it having an effect on your sleeping routine?