iPhone « Michael John Fransen

iPhone

iPhone — No Comments
6
Jan 10

Make Your Blog Mobile Friendly

I don’t know how many bloggers are left since the introduction of microblogging sites such as Twitter, but I thought I would share a plug-in I found for blogs using WordPress. The plug-in is called WPTouch and can be found here. Simply installing and activating the plug-in will change the theme of your blog when someone visits it from an iPhone, Android device, or another smart phone. Installing it won’t only make your blog more user friendly it will make it load faster. Let’s face it; even though internet speeds have increased over the last few years they still aren’t that great.

Here is an example of what this blog that you are currently reading looks like on an iPhone:

Apple / iPhone — 1 Comment
3
Jan 10

Top 10 iPhone Applications of 2009

In the spirit of tradition I thought I would post my favorite iPhone applications of 2009 like I did last year. The apps listed are the ones that I use the most and not necessary the coolest or the most innovative. This list excludes the native iPhone applications like mail, calendar or calculator. The apps are listed in order from the most to the least used.

iFitness – $1.99 (link)

This application is a steal for $1.99 and is the app that I used most in 2009. I use it as an exercise log so I can keep track of my weight, reps and history. It does a lot more than that though. It has a whole library of exercises that contains pictures, video and text descriptions of the exercises to ensure you do them properly. It also allows you to view graphs of your progress. This application has a TON of functionality, but remains one of the most user friendly interfaces. The application allows for easy data entry at the gym so you don’t look like a big geek who won’t get off your iPhone while working out. I also enjoy that they have updates very often. They are constantly adding more value and making the application easier to use.

GroceryIQ – $0.99 (link)

This application was great earlier in the year and it just got an update that makes it 10 times better. This application has saved me a ton of time in the place I hate most on earth, the grocery store. It allows you to make your grocery list at home. You can type in items or you can choose from a list of favorites. It assigns the items to the correct area of the store so you won’t find yourself wondering from one side of the store to the other. Earlier in the year I was wishing the application would have the ability to scan barcodes like RedLaser. Early in December, they had a release that now has this functionality. All one needs to do is click the scan button and use the iPhone’s camera to scan a barcode and the item will be added to your grocery list.

Facebook – Free (link)

The Facebook application made my list for the second year in a row. This application had a major upgrade this past year with iPhone 3.0 being released. In my opinion, it is the best designed iPhone application out there. It just isn’t number one because I don’t use it the most. The only thing that it still lacks is push notification. This is supposed to be in the next release, however, who knows when that will be since the main developer of this application quit this past year due to Apple’s strict requirements on iPhone developers.

Tweetie 2 – $2.99 (link)

Tweetie 2 is my twitter client of choice along with most other twitter users on the iPhone. It got a major upgrade this past year as well. So much of an upgrade that they made it a new application in the app store and even if you had the first version of Tweetie you still had to pay for this one. It is worth the price though. It supports pretty much all of Twitter’s functionality, even the newer things like retweet, lists and geotagging. The only downfall of this application is that it doesn’t have native push notifications.

Boxcar – Free* (link)

Neither Facebook nor Tweetie 2 has push notifications. Boxcar is an application that allows you to add push notifications to these applications. Wither someone is writing on your wall, liking your status, commenting on your picture, sending you a direct message or replying to you; you will be notified on your iPhone. You can view that notification and boxcar will open the corresponding application. The application is free as well as the first service. Additional services cost $0.99. I only use this for Facebook and Tweetie 2 so I paid $0.99.

Remember the Milk – Free* (link)

This application compliments the website Remember the Milk. Remember the Milk is a task management application that allows you to add tasks, change their due dates, change their priorities and so on. It has a lot of features and is a well designed application. The application is free in the app store, however, there is a yearly charge to use pro services at rememberthemilk.com. The cost for the pro service is $25.00 per year. The web interface for Remember the Milk rocks as well.

CNN – $1.99 (link)

CNN joined the app bandwagon this year and released a full featured CNN application that allows you to read stories, watch video and submit news as it happens where you live. When there is breaking news you can watch live video. This became real handy when a co-worker didn’t believe me about Balloon Boy. CNN made a bold move with this application that hadn’t been done in the app store or at least not with a popular application. CNN charged for the application AND they decided to show display ads within the application. I complained for a few days and still think it is greedy, but I also do think this is the best news app in the app store right now.

The Weather Channel – Free (link)

There’s not too much to say about this application except for it is my most used weather application. One feature that is very useful is the radar tab that allows you to see where the storm is and in what direction it is moving. I used this feature several times this past summer while cycling and trying to avoid the storms. There is a pro version for $3.99 which I haven’t researched so I don’t know what it offers additionally.

TomTom – $49.99 (link)

This was one of the most highly anticipated applications this past year. TomTom is well known for their stand-alone navigation devices and this year they brought it to the iPhone. It is a well designed application and it has improved throughout the year. You need to make sure your iPhone is plugged into a power source while using this application because it will drain the battery in no time if you don’t. There is a separate piece of hardware that you can buy that will mount the iPhone to the dash, enhance the GPS signal and charge while driving. I don’t have this, but I have been driving and have had the app fail when I needed it the most because it had a weak GPS signal. Not cool.

Kindle for iPhone – Free (link)

In my opinion, this application is only cool if you have the kindle. This application allows you to read books on the iPhone. I don’t think this is something I would want to do long term though. The neatest thing about this application is that I can buy a book and read it on my kindle, but then if I go somewhere where I have some time to kill I can just take out my iPhone and this application will sync to where I left off on my kindle and I can start reading. Once I am done my kindle will update to where I left off on my iPhone.

So there you have it; my favorite iPhone application of 2009 based on usage. What are some of your favorites that were released this year? Leave them in the comments so I can check them out.

Here’s to an innovative 2010 for iPhone applications!!

Apple / iPhone — 3 Comments
2
Jan 09

Top 10 iPhone Applications of 2008

On July 11th of last year I got my iPhone after spending a couple of hours in line early in the morning. It has proven to be worth the wait. That is not to say there haven’t been a couple of issues though, like it’s obsession with disconnecting from exchange a couple of times a week. With the iPhone the App Store was released. This has proven to be an excellent business model for Apple and consumers. Although, it can be challenging at times to find the good apps because they only account for 1% of the apps in the App Store. The other 99% are crap. So to help distinguish the excellent apps I have decided to post my top 10 list of best apps of 2008. These may not be the coolest apps, but they are the ones that are cool and that I actually USE. There were others like the google app and Vlingo, however they are just to show off and haven’t proven to be useful on a day to day basis.

10. Shazam – This is one of those novelty apps, however, I did find myself a few times actually needing this app and I discovered a few songs because of it. Essentially this app enables your iPhone to listen to music on the radio, in a bar or wherever and then sends a clip of the song to Shazam’s servers. They run some recognition algorithms on it and send you back the information on the song including the title. It also includes a link to iTunes to purchase the song on your phone. If you have ever been somewhere and heard a song you really liked but couldn’t get it because you didn’t know the name, this app is for you.

9. WordPress – This one I could not wait for. I haven’t used it very much, but it comes in very handy if you want to take a picture and put it on your blog remotely. It is very easy to write a blog post or edit an existing post. A new version is suppose to be coming out soon. It will allow for a lot more functionality such as moderating comments, creating and editing pages, photo resizing and most importantly, landscape mode. For anyone that has an iPhone, you know you can type much more efficiently when apps have landscape mode.

8. SimCity – This is a classic game that was made for the iPhone. Time flies when you play this game. It is quite challenging as well. The dragging works very well on the touch screen. There are also starter cities if you don’t feel like starting one from scratch. There are nice tutorials as well that help you remember how to play the game if it has been a couple of decades since you have played like me.

7. iFitness – As of late I have been lifting weights along with the cardio that I usually do. Since I am new to this, I didn’t know many of the exercises. This application allows you to pick a body section and shows you exercises. You can see pictures or you can read how to do the exercise. It also has logging functionality that allows for easy entering in between your reps. It also allows you to see the amount of weight you lifted the last time so you can ensure you are increasing your limits.

6. AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner – I have used AllRecipes.com for years now when trying to find something to make for dinner. This application actually is easier to use than the website. You select different criteria and the application makes suggestions. If you like what you see you can view the recipe and read user reviews.

5. Mint.com – I am a heavy user of Mint.com. It is one of the best free websites around. I use it for keeping up to date with my checking account, savings account, credit cards and retirement accounts. It also allows has budgeting although the iPhone app’s budget part doesn’t work with my account. All of this can now be viewed using the iPhone application. It is great for when you are on the go and want to keep up with your finances. This screenshot is not of my accounts just in case you were wondering. Obviously, otherwise the investment section would have said a 30% loss.

4. Monopoly – This is by far the best game I have played on the iPhone. This game has every feature that the board game has plus some. You can trade, have auctions, mortgage stuff plus more. All the animations are a nice touch as well. You can play against the computer, otherwise, you can play others over a wifi network.

3. Twinkle – This is by far my favorite twitter application for the iPhone. You can manage your twitter account plus a few extras. It uses GPS to find people that are tweeting around you. If you would like to waste some time, turn the iPhone on it’s side and twinkle will show a full screen map and shows you the location of real time tweets around the world. It is fun to see what people in other countries are writing.

2. Pandora – When I got my iPod Touch when they came out, the first thing I wanted for it was streaming radio. If you don’t believe me ask Steve. I constantly was asking him if he had found streaming radio. It seemed so obvious that this was the platform for portable streaming radio. There were some that were web based, but they were hackish and didn’t work very well. I was thrilled when the App Store open and Pandora was released. It is a rea
lly nice app and has decent sound. It is great because it works well over 3G. How many people have streaming internet radio on their way to work?

1. Facebook – 2008 was definitely they year I started using Facebook. It is great. I stay in contact with people I thought I would never talk to again. I know more of what is going on in my friend’s and family’s lives than I ever have. This application allows me to do this while I am on the go. The second version of it pretty much lets you do most anything you can do on the website. You can update your status, view your wall, view your friend’s walls, comment on anything and more. It integrates with the camera very well also. You can take a picture and upload it to your Facebook in under 30 seconds.

Apple / iPhone — No Comments
27
Nov 08

Store iPhone Applications

Now a Target iPhone Application. What’s left? Where’s the innovation?

Don’t forget the GAP one too.

Apple / iPhone — 2 Comments
20
Nov 08

SnapTell Explorer

Pete, a co-worker, told me about a cool iPhone application today so I thought I would check it out. It is a really cool application. It allows you to take a picture of a book, DVD or CD. It then sends that image to a server and does some crazy recognition and then sends you back reviews and places where you can purchase the book without typing a word. The photos below demonstrate how this application works.

Apple / iPhone — No Comments
17
Nov 08

Google’s Updated Search Application Released

I have been eagerly waiting for the updated Google Search Application with voice recognition since Friday. It was supposed to be released on Friday, but didn’t hit the App store until tonight. It crashed on me once during the first 10 minutes of using it. The voice recognition is decent for commonly used words and phrases, but isn’t that great otherwise. Searching for businesses is pretty cool because the results allow you to go to the site, call the place or place it on a map. The search results are specific to your location using GPS. If you choose to show on a map, it opens up the google maps application and shows you the route from your current location (GPS driven) to the business.

iPhone — No Comments
16
Nov 08

Google Mobile Search

This was supposed to be released this past Friday, but now it appears it will be released tomorrow. I am super excited to try this out. There have been plenty of times where I have had to search for something on my iPhone because I am away from a computer. This will be much more efficient.

iPhone — No Comments
26
Oct 08

WinAdmin for iPhone

Considering that 99.5% of the application in the application store for the iPhone/iPod Touch are crap, I figure I better blog about one that is a diamond in the rough. It is called WinAdmin. It allows you to terminal service into a server via Microsoft Windows remote desktop protocol (RDP). Now when I am on-call I can leave the bulky, heavy laptop at home since I can do everything on my iPhone. It will probably take a few seconds longer because of the screen size difference, but it is still very manageable. You can click, just my touching the screen. To double click just click the screen and hold for a second. I only tested this on WiFi and 3G which worked great. I am guessing EDGE would be a little slow since I could tell a little bit of difference between WiFi and 3G. The accelerometer is used in this application as well. Once you are logged into the server you can tilt the screen for a wide view if you wish. Another nice feature is that you can be logged into many servers at one time. It sort of works like different web pages in mobile safari.

I have taken some screenshots for you to see the app in use.

iPhone — 4 Comments
21
Aug 08

Remote Desktop for iPhone

I have been very disappointed in Apple’s App Store lately. About 99% of the applications are absolute crap. I can’t believe with the tight control apple has over things, that they are allowing so many worthless apps in their marketplace. Anywho, that is not the point of this post. The point is within that 1% of good apps, there is finally remote desktop for the iPhone. VNC has been out for a while, but that isn’t useful for me in my company. This remote desktop app isn’t yet either because you can only connect to XP. It won’t be long though before I will be able to connect to the other MS OSs that I need to be able to. This will be very helpful when on call.

Apple / iPhone — 1 Comment
25
Jul 08

More Apps for the iPhone!

So I found three more really cool apps that are awesome on the iPhone. One is called “Remote” and is made by apple. I have had it a while but finally tested it out tonight. It basically makes your iPhone turn into a remote for AppleTV or your computer with iTunes. It allows you to browse songs and video and play them on your computer or your TV. It uses wifi so it works anywhere in the house. I can think of some people that have speakers throughout their whole house where this would be sweet. The second app is WordPress for the iPhone. I can finally blog more than just pictures from my iPhone. It is pretty sweet and includes great picture support. The final one is called Shazam. If you have a song on the radio that you don’t know what it is then you start up this application. It listens for about 30 seconds and then, Shazam, you have the song and links to buy it on Itunes. You also have a bunch of information on the song. It is pretty elaborate also. I found some weird shit on some AM channel and it knew what it was. With this and Pandora, I should be able to increase my music library. Speaking of Pandora, I am really falling in love with that application as well. Listening to internet streaming radio in the car on the way to and from work is cool. I feel like I have entered an era that I once said, “Yeah right” to just a few years ago. I am now controlling appliances in my house with my phone, listening to streaming radio in the car and VPN-ing into my work to *easily* browse the intranet or terminal service into servers (if my company used VNC). The time is here and I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Michael John Fransen

iPhone

Make Your Blog Mobile Friendly