Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Apple iPhone apps

Since getting my iPhone I have downloaded a lot of applications. Here are the ones I find I use regularly:


Stitcher Radio - This streams radio and podcasts straight to your phone, no need to download it in iTunes. The downside is that in order to comply with copyright the controls available to you are restricted. Still, it's nice to have when you've listened to everything in your iPod, and it's an easy way to get the NPR top of the hour news updates.

Pandora - I don't listen to a lot of music and as a result when I do want to find some I'm overwhelmed. Pandora lets you plug in an artist (or artists) you like and it will play songs by that person and similar artists that other Pandora listeners liked. You can vote songs up or down as you go along. Like Stitcher, in order to comply with copyright the controls are limited and occasionally a song will just stop playing, but for somebody like me who just doesn't have all that much mental space to devote to music it's perfectly great.

Stanza - A nice ebook reader. The controls are simple and the free library is huge. Right now I'm reading Grimm's Fairytales. I have to remember to load more books next time I find myself without a signal, rare but it happens.

Twitterrific - Easy to use Twitter thingy. Free and paid version.

Instapaper - Installing this on the iPhone was a little tricky, but the developer was a charming mixture of apologetic/exasperated/detailed. Simply, when you find an article in Safari you'd like to save for later you hit the Instapaper bookmark and it saves it in a text format which you download to the Instapaper app. It's not perfect, but it is a space to keep things I want to read later on without filling up my Safari bookmarks. Also, it's fun to rediscover that thing I wanted to read.

Jott - It takes recorded messages and sends them back to you as text. Easy way to save that thought you want to remember without having to type. Good for when you're walking.

Toy Bot Diaries - This is an adorable little game and, like the reviews state, was the first time I played a game and forgot I was holding an iPhone. This is the first episode, $3.99, also has a free version.

TentsManiak Lite - A basic deduction game that I was glad to have while sitting in a waiting room where I couldn't get a signal. Free version.

Cubicman Lite - It plays like Bloxorz. Free version.

Labyrinth LE - This is a metal ball in a wooden maze but the controls are superb, you get the illusion of real weight. Free version.


The two sites I use to keep up with iPhone news are iSmashPhone and Touch Arcade.

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