Back after an Extended Absence

Hello all, I have been MIA from my blog posts for just under one year!  I am back and I have plenty to share for productivity apps for iOS, both the iPhone and the iPad.

First off… where is the new iPhone?  I am hoping for a slightly larger screen and of course a speed boost.  The current camera is very good, I see no reason to go to an eight MP sensor, I hope Apple holds off on 4G until a mature chipset is in place, a chipset with decent battery life.  The Android 4G phones are all reviewed as having poor battery life.

Hopefully we will see what happens in the next couple of weeks.

Audible for iPhone upgraded to ver. 1.3 - Adds Access to Store

The big news with Audible for iPhone 1.3 is access to the new beta mobile webstore for browsing and purchasing Audible books from your iPhone. Version 1.3 has a new "Shop" tab accessible from your "My Library" screen. From the shop tab there is an orange "Enter the Mobile Store" button, clicking it launches mobile safari - sign in and you are displayed with a mobile version of the Audible.com website. You can browse, view your wish list and purchase books. Then return to the Audible for iPhone app and download your newly purchased book - via wifi.
Access to purchasing is a big win for the Audible iPhone application, this added to the already useful bookmarking and sleep timer functionality results in a better book listening experience than using the built-in iPod functionality.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

ITunes Genius Revisited!

Quietly the Genius has become... Well... genius! Using my music library there are very few misses. It appears that Apple was correct, "over time, the Genius playlists will improve as more play data is collected.
Right on! Play a favorite song, hit the Genius logo and seconds later you have a very good playlist. If you have not used iTunes Genius in a while, consider giving it a try again.

I have been using Rhapodsy on the iPhone for new music discovery... I wish Rhapodsy would leverage a feature similar to Genius, it would be a great way to hear new music!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pulse News Reader

Has twitter killed the RSS feed? For me, no, not completely. It has definitely changed the way I browse feeds. Where I used to live in NNW, I now get most of my info via twitter.
There are still a handful of sites that are ideal for a newsreader; Daring Fireball, Canon Rumors, traditional news sites - such as NYT. I have 10 to 12 of these in Pulse, I can quickly peruse new posts, scrolling up and down, left or right. Pulse is very good for a quick review of a handful of information sources. Pulse is also equally useable on the iPhone or iPad.
If you are looking for a simple news reader, for a modest number of feeds, give Pulse a try.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My-Cast Weather Radar - my new GoTo Weather app!

I had been using TWC Max & RadarScope for months, they were my go to weather applications on the iPhone. The Weather Channel application provides solid forecast information and RadarScope is a solid weather radar app.
Then came along My-Cast, $3.99 from Garmin (digital cyclone) - I love the weather maps, as a cyclist, wind speed and direction are a good thing to know. My-Cast has great weather maps, more than just the standard animated precipitation radar maps, it has maps with wind direction and speed, animated cloud coverage maps, temperature maps, a StormWatch map and a traditional weather map (as seen on your 6PM news).
The interface is well thought out, for instance the Daily Forecast screen leverages the pinch gesture to provide more or less detail. Rotate your iPhone and you get a graphical scrolling view of the 7 day forecast. The Forecast screen also provides access to hourly weather looking ahead 24 hours. I would like to see the daily forecast go out 14 days.
The Conditions screen gives you a quick glance at current conditions for the location you have selected. All of the info is there including sunrise and sunset times.
For four bucks, this app is a no-brainer, you will use it daily if your life/hobbies revolve around outdoor activities. Highly Recommended.

Note: the beauty of iOS 4, I now have a Weather folder on my homescreen and kept my old stand by weather applications... Thus it is no longer a question of "either or".


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Change of Format

This project of mine has been ignored for the past several months.  I plan a change of format.  Due to time constraints and this blog never really taking off, I plan to link the posts to my twitter account and post exclusively - quick snippets on iPhone and iPad applications, etc.  Hopefully someone out there will find this info useful.
Thx, KIPP

My "Go To" Apps for the Decade... Part 1.

Yeah, why not a "decade list"?  The iPhone is has been with us for 2.5 years, we have had Apps for 1.5 years.  Below is a list of Apps I use daily, having ubiquitous access to their functionality is a game changer.  In the early 90s Bill Gates preached "information at your fingertips", ironically Apple's iPhone platform is delivering... information at your fingertips.. and a whole lot more!

In no particular order:

• Evernote:  access to everything!  Used as a "shoebox" for pieces of information, Evernote truly represents "information at your fingertips"!  A+++  (and they keep adding functionality.. the latest release lets you pick and choose what you want to store locally on your iPhone)
• TWC Max:  I recently switched to The Weather Channel App from Accuweather for 3 reasons - the 36 hour forecast, Explore Map -with configureable overlays and traffic cams.  Solid weather... at your fingertips!
• Facebook, Twitteriffic Pro and NetNewsWire - I gouped these three together because they all give access to feeds of one type or another - all are solid applications that I access multiple times a day.
• Instapaper Pro & FileMagnet: Both application have a killer feature... "tilt to scroll".  I use FileMagnet to store PDF files, usually manuals that I want to read/browse, on my iPhone.  Instapaper Pro is the perfect application for a smartphone!  "Read Later" - mark any webpage from any browser, desktop or mobile safari and then sync Instapaper and.. presto... the webpage is on your iPhone distilled to an ideal format for reading on the limited space of a smartphone screen.
• Google Mobile App, reQall & Dragon Dictation: voice, voice, voice..
• Navigon, Maps, MotionX-GPS - Navigon has replaced my Tom Tom GPS in the car and my Garmin handheld for hiking/biking.  Navigon with the optional traffic service has proven it's worth and the new upgrade gives access to search Google for POIs.  MotionX-GPS is a GPS logger with many uses...

Wow.. I have several more Apps to cover in Part 2.