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Six iPhone productivity applications for busy people
The iPhone has taken the mobile world by storm, allowing users to browse the full web, send pictures, converse, instant message and much more! While there are over 100,000 apps available for Apple's flagship phone, I've focused in on the Top 6 iPhone Apps that can help increase productivity. This list includes both personal productivity applications and business productivity programs. Best iPhone Note Taking Application Awesome Note [iTunes Link] $3.99 - If you're constantly forgetting important tasks this is a must have program. The application allows users to setup various and unlimited folders and even color code those options for the users own personal preferences. I personally use a red folder for "Important Notes" a blue folder for "Personal Notes" and a Green folder for "Business reminders" which makes sorting out my personal and business life simple. The app also offers the ability to rename, delete and add new folders on the fly. Awesome Note also provides a "quick note" option that allows users to quickly start a note and then fill in the blank spaces at a later time. With full customizations, transfers to Evernote and an easy to use interface, it's a must have program for compulsive note takers and it's a huge step above the standard iPhone note program. Quick Tip: iPhone 3.0 OS Users and higher only! One drawback: it does not record audio notes. Best iPhone "Sync" Application Air Sharing [iTunes Link] $2.99 - Air Sharing is the best way to connect your iPhone or even your iPod Touch to your Mac. The program uses WiFi to connect both devices and then relies on drag and drop functionality to share files both to and from your Mac. I particularly like the ability to use pinch zooming for photos and documents along with the large number of file types supported by the program (any file type supported by Apple). The program also offers both landscape and portrait sharing for ease of use. Mac users will also love that the interface for Air Sharing is very similar to the Mac Finder Application, a fact that will make most Apple users feel very comfortable the moment they begin using the program. With no cables to carry around or to find a plugin for, this app will definitely help with your business productivity, while providing easy access to personal files of various types. Best iPhone "Personal Information" Application eWallet [iTunes Link] $9.99 - If you're a busy business person or an active stay at home parent, there's a good chance you carry around a lot of information that you need quick access to. At the same time you probably want that information (credit cards, drivers license number, important business notes) to be protected at all times. eWallet is the perfect solution for this requirement. The program provides 256-bit encryption with user created categories so any information can be entered. Users can also create their own data fields so their most important data can quickly be pulled up and used. I particularly found this application of great use for field technicians who need to access various passwords for different networks and for travelers who need access to various forms of personal information. Best iPhone Scheduling And Calendar Applications Built-In Calendar With MobileMe Access - This is actually two programs. The first option is the built-in Calendar found on all iPhones. I really like the ease of use found on the calendar, including the ability to quickly search for and add new important dates, meetings, etc. While MobileMe allows users to enter in appointments and dates on their iPhone or Mac computers and that information is then shared between all of their connected Apple products via the Apple "cloud" computing network. If you want a simple way to run your small business while tracking important appointments and dates this is a much cheaper option at $99/year than setting up an Exchange server. Users also receive An 20GB for email and file storage and 200MB of monthly data transfers. MobileMe also provides contacts and email pushing which adds to the MobileMe appeal. Best iPhone "Billable Timer" Application TimeLogger [iTunes Link] $3.99 - Why spend hours logging all of your billable time to clients when you can download the TimeLogger application and have your phone do most of the work for you. TimeLogger lets users setup various clients and then start a timer when they are completing work for those clients. Simply press "Start" to begin the timing process and then "Stop" to end your billable time. The program also lets users "alter" times in case they forget to start or stop a timer. I also really appreciated the "notes" function which made it simple to add important facts about what I was doing during each billable sequence. The program also offers an "export" feature which provides easy to read output for .CSV files. Exported files can even been focused in on for the category you're billing, a specific client you want to email and even for a certain job or date range. Best iPhone "Travel" Application FlightTrack [iTunes Link] $4.99 - This is a must-have program for frequent travelers. Simply enter in an airline and flight number and you'll receive information about arrival and departure times, you can even track flights from around the world. The information found on FlightTrack is offered in real time and can even provide information that includes the baggage claim areas for luggage and the gate number for any flight. My favorite part of this program however was the ability to create up to 11 different flight itineraries, allowing me to plan trips months in advance and then follow any changes that might occur with those flights. If you're traveling on a regular basis this is a much more productivity way to follow flights than pulling out your computer constantly. Those are my Top 6 iPhone productivity applications. Whether you need to take notes, bill clients or sync files, there are literally thousands of applications that iPhone users can download and use. These are 6 applications I couldn't live without thanks to the time they shave off my day by offering quick to access and simple to use options for daily, monthly and even yearly tasks. Give them a try today, you won't be disappointed.
Touch Arcade picks their favorite iPhone games of 2009
Our friends over at Touch Arcade have put together their list of the best iPhone games of 2009, and if you happened to unwrap an iPod touch or an iPhone yesterday, that's as good a place as any to start hunting for your favorite games. Spider: Secret of Bryce Manor [$2.99, iTunes link] topped their list, and we agree that it's an excellent showcase for original iPhone software (there's also a promo version if you want to try the gameplay for free). Other than that, there's a few of our favorites missing from the list (no Ramp Champ? No Galcon Labs?), but there are plenty of terrific games to download and play on into 2010. It's been a fantastic year for iPhone gaming -- if you haven't yet jumped in and checked out some of the best the platform has to offer, what are you waiting for? Get downloading!
Time names Apple MacBook, iPod touch among best travel gadgets
Time Magazine has published their list of 2009's best travel gadgets, and the iPod touch and MacBook have made the cut. Time notes the MacBook's size and high green ratings as well as the iPod touch's speed, Wi-Fi compatibility and library of games worked in their favor. I do my share of traveling (as does Steve) and find that my iPhone plus a couple of well-selected apps are enough to get the job done most of the time. It's strange that the iPhone wasn't included, since its connectivity isn't limited to Wi-Fi as the iPod touch is. It's even stranger that several apps also made the list, like Yelp (tap the masses for dining tips) [iTunes link] and the Zipcar App (find a quick-and-easy rental), but not the device that would get the most out of them. Perhaps it was the high cost of service for the iPhone? Stranger still is their inclusion of the Droid. We assume it made the cut based upon its proven track record. I mean, it's been out for a whole 3 days now. [Via MacDailyNews]
Eleven iPhone games I won't delete
This won't be a detailed review of eleven games. This is a quick list of games that I've found impossible to remove from my iPhone -- some for fun, some for kid entertainment and some just because they are cool to show off. Several are free, some I caught on sale, but ones like Fieldrunners and Sway I'd buy at any price. Cro-Mag Rally [iTunes link] -- I used to play this on the older PPC-based iMacs and it was also an early entrant to the store. Cro-Mag is cute but it also plays exceedingly well. If you want something like Mario Kart on your iPhone, this is about as close as I've found. For a quick racing game that nearly anyone can enjoy, Cro-Mag is a true iPhone "classic." MotionX Dice [iTunes link] -- You never know when you're doing to need some dice. Plus, MotionX gives this app away, and it's a beautiful example of what can be done on the iPhone. When someone wants to "see something" on my iPhone, often I'll show them how the shadows cast by the dice change as I move the iPhone. Then we'll play some dice games. Flick Bowling [iTunes link] -- There are faster, cheaper versions of bowling on the iPhone. I find Flick provides just enough eye candy and immersion to suit my taste. Plus, it loads pretty fast and you can get to bowling without a lot of setup. It's a casual game that looks bigger than it is. Dizzy Bee [iTunes link] -- One of the big, early hits for the iPhone, in no small part because the super cute free version moved a lot of units. Dizzy Bee is the app everyone seemed to give to the kids to play with, but the challenges get pretty tough. Like any great game: simple to learn, hard to master. Plus, there's now a sequel. Keep reading for some games that are a little more under the radar and some genuine iPhone essentials...
Spiritual Guidance: 12 Reasons why you don't want to play a Priest
You know, I'm normally a huge proponent of my class. Don't get me wrong, I love my Dwarf Priest. There's all these great healing spells we have at our disposal. No one's ever going to turn down a Priest from joining a raid or a guild. I have to admit, we have it pretty easy. I'm used to giving newer players advice about Priests and reasons for selecting that class. Every once in a while, I get extremely bitter about being a Priest. For those of you that want to roll a Priest, let me introduce some second thoughts.
Fortune names RIM fastest growing company... in the world
It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that RIM is doing pretty well even in the face of an economic downturn, but it looks like it's been doing really well -- at least according to Fortune, which has just named the Canadian company the fastest growing firm in the world. That's apparently based on a combination of profits, turnover, and investment return over three years which, in RIM's case, translates an 84% growth in profits in the past three years, a 77% growth in revenue, and a total return of 45%. It's also actually the first time RIM has made the list, although that's at least partly due to the fact that Fortune didn't include non-US firms last time around.
Preparing for BlizzCon: What to pack in your backpack
BlizzCon approaches! Preparing for BlizzCon is your regular source for tips on how best to prepare for Blizzard's gaming extravaganza. These helpful hints are particularly suited for convention rookies. But if you are a con veteran, we'd love to hear your advice and wisdom in the comments as well.Backpack, messenger bag, extra large purse -- whatever you are toting into the Anaheim Convention Center should be filled with a few basic things in order to get the most from BlizzCon. The catch is that it cannot be any bigger than 10"x20" and it cannot contain any of the following: Desktop computers, laptops, electronic storage devices (unless you have a press pass) Glass bottles, cans, large containers (this limits some of your food options should you choose to carry-in) Alcohol (leave your cool flask or teeny airplane booze bottles in your hotel room) Weapons and fireworks (Captain Obvious is making giggle noises.) Join us after the break for what you can and should stuff in your BlizzCon-bag.
Fallen Earth's "Three Bs of the Apocalpyse" trailer now showing
B is one of those letters that you never think of when you're doing lists. Yet the team over at Fallen Earth has put together a few reasons why B is a great letter, especially for the apocalypse. Their newest trailer for their upcoming post-apocalyptic MMO focuses in on all of the blood, beasts and... er... babes?While we're pretty sure that the game has enough blood and beasts to keep the average rabid gamer hungry, babes might be a little harder to come by. But it is the apocalypse and we guess that the human race does need babes to survive. Very important for the race to continue onwards and what not.The video is being shown over at IGN's video site if you want to take a look at it, but you do need to input your birthday to see it. Lastly, if you ask us, the last babe that they show off at around 0:20 is truly the hottest of them all. She's a bit heavy set, and her skin is a little on the grey side, but we see a heart of gold in there.
WWDC Demo: Slick Shopper
Slick Shopper is a slick little list app. It does one very specific thing: make shopping lists. In fact, the developer thought through little details such as a location-specific context for your lists. If you're needing things only in your bedroom (perhaps a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond is in your future?), Slick Shopper will winnow the list down to just those items with a couple of clicks.While list apps are plentiful on the store, yet again we see a plethora of choices covering niche angles. Now the only problem is not littering your iPhone with list apps -- not to be confused with "to do" apps. Slick Shopper (iTunes link) is currently $.99 on the App Store.
Twisted Nether Wiki compiles a nice list of WoW utilities
A few folks over at the Twisted Nether Wiki have done a great thing and compiled a nice full list of all of those little online WoW utilities that we talk about every once in a while. From character improvement tools like Be Imba! to resources like Kaliban's Loot Lists and even humor sites like WoWBash, if it's online, WoW-related, and worth visiting more than once, it's on this list.And of course it's a wiki, so even if it's not on that list, you can add it. But it is cool to have all of those resources in one place -- we mention them, obviously, when there are updates to share, but if you don't bookmark them when you hear about them, they might have fallen off your radar. There are so many great and well-designed tools out there for players to use that something like this, tracking them all, is great to have.
Game Developer Research lists 'Top 50 Developers' of 2009
Game Developer magazine (and its brainy Game Developer Research division) recently published its second annual enumerated accolades for the fine folks who make the games that you crudely jam into your home entertainment consoles -- or, in layman's terms, the "Top 50 Developers 2009" report. The rankings are based on how many games a studio created, the sales for those games, and their metacritic ratings. Quality of box art and amount of 'tude possessed by the games' protagonists, however, were not taken into consideration.The results are utterly shocking -- for the second year in a row, Nintendo took top honors, with fellow money-printing organization Blizzard taking second place. Ubisoft Montreal skyrocketed from 12th place in the '08 report to third place in the most recent rankings. Regardless of your fanboyism for a certain developer, we think we can all agree -- in such a financially (and employmentmentally) challenging time, we're just glad to hear there's at least 50 game developers that haven't been forced to shut down.The full list is posted after the jump.[Thanks, Braz!]
On the lookout for Push Notification apps
We can't wait for iPhone 3.0 to arrive (c'mon, isn't it Wednesday somewhere already?), so in the meantime we're making a list and checking it twice. AppAdvice has posted a short list of apps known or expected to include Push Notification capabilities, including IM+, AP News, Tap Tap Revenge 2.5 and AIM. ESPN's ScoreCenter (promoed at the top of the store earlier today) was also announced as a push-capable app during the original iPhone 3.0 event.We've got a few others that seem to be promising PN capability at or near the 3.0 launch, courtesy of reader Joachim's research help: Beejive IM and ngmoco's Touch Pets Dogs. A quick search of Apptism for 'push notifications' reveals a few more candidates, including David Fletcher's ChatMaster. Searching the iTunes Store itself shows a couple more interesting (and not necessarily shipping) apps: speed trap checker Trapster, killer Jabber/XMPP client OneTeam, personal finance tool BillMinder and IT manager's virtual machine toolkit VManage all list PN on the roadmap but no sign of new versions yet.Once the 3.0 version is released and developers can loose their tongues, we fully expect to hear about scores of updates to take advantage of PN and other new features. If your app is among the revised horde, shoot us a line at our app review address.Thanks to Will for the suggestion.
Top 5: Jury's Still Out
In this little hobby of ours, there are undeniable classics. Only an utterly clueless fanboy will ignore Shigeru Miyamoto's contributions to gaming, and any Nintendo enthusiast can never deny the quality of a series like Halo or God of War. No matter the platform, there are games which make up the foundation of this medium as we've come to know it. Traditionally, the formula would seem to be game made by a respectable company + a few years to let it sink in = indisputable classic. Yet there are a few that still provoke debate. These are games that are neither universally adored nor hated. They almost always spark conversation, and are considered by some to be an acquired taste. Here are the Top 5 games that we all can't decide if they're classics or not. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
Bury the Shovelware: 2008 in Review
We're barely one week into 2009 and I'm already prepared to make a judgment about the current year: I don't like it one bit. With that in mind, I've decided to take a nostalgic look back to an easier, care-free time: 2008. Our study began on the 2nd of July with a look at the laughably terrible Homie Rollerz. It will continue indefinitely (in other words, until my overlords decide to give me the axe), or until we can come to a concrete and atomic definition of "shovelware." That's not to say that we've been woolgathering this past half-year. Indeed, we've learned quite a bit about what constitutes shovelware and what doesn't. Here's a handful of our most acute observations:
AchievementTracker tracks achievements across the realms
Reader Jeffrey R. was kind enough to send us his achievement tracking site, named (conveniently) AchievementTracker.com. We've seen quite a few sites for tracking achievements on your own character out there already (especially since the Armory opened up the information to the web), but unlike the others, AchievementTracker seems to be focusing on ranking only -- instead of browsing over your own information, all the site really presents is a list of the top players in the world, US, EU, or by the various realms.There are a few caveats, the first being that they're only tracking characters above level 70, and the second being that they're not tracking everyone -- I had to put my own character into the system (though that won't matter if you're just looking for the top players, since I would never even rank on any lists anyone was watching). And while WoW-Achievements has Beelsebub of EU Darksorrow at number one and Minipuff of EU Stormscale in second place so far, AchievementTracker has them backwards (and their point totals are lower -- maybe Armory lag?).And of course we don't know for sure if there's someone on the realms that neither of these sites are tracking with more achievement points (it may be worth noting, too, that beyond Armory links, neither site tells us much about the characters -- is there a class or spec that's better for achievement point earning?). It'll probably take a little while until we can get a standard for tracking these, but until then, looks like we'll have a few different lists to watch.
Top 10 HD sports broadcasts of 2008 -- do you agree?
We know, they're essentially meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but there's something about these "top lists" that just warms our hearts. Arlen Schweiger over at Electronic House took a long, hard look back at all the sports he consumed over the course of this year in order to compile a best-of-the-best list for HD content. We don't want to give away any spoilers before you give the read link a visit, but let's just say "Texas tips Oklahoma," "Giants Freeze Packers" and "Celtics Return to Glory" are scattered about in there somewhere. And while we're on the subject, what's your top 10 high-def sports list of 2008?
Popular Mechanics picks 20 best Blu-ray Discs for showing off
So we've already had a discussion over which ten films that aren't on Blu-ray, um, should be, but this one's about choosing the most beautiful of the titles already available. Popular Mechanics has listed its top twenty Blu-ray Discs in terms of pure visual incredibleness, noting that these winners "reward repeat viewing with great stories, evocative soundtracks and dazzling visuals." Understandably, a few from the Criterion Collection made the cut, with notable others including Wall-E, No Country for Old Men, The Bourne Ultimatum and A Passage to India. We didn't find too many avenues for disagreement on the films that were chosen, but we were taken aback by the fact that Baraka was nowhere to be found. A simple oversight, or a purposeful omission?
Nice List is...uh...a nice list
This has gotta stop. Three times in the last two weeks, I've said, "Wouldn't it be nice if there was an iPhone app that did this?" -- and then received an email the next day from a developer who has released the app I was thinking about. I may need to put on my tinfoil hat to keep iPhone devs from reading my mind.The latest mind invasion happened last night, when my spouse and I were out Christmas shopping for two low-income families. Barb had a list in iPhone Notes, but no way to check off the items we picked up. Today I received an email from Polar Bear Farm, announcing that they'd released Nice List, a Holiday Gift Manager for iPhone and iPod touch.If somebody has been especially nice this year, you can add 'em to your Nice List from your address book. Once you know who you'll be gifting, you can add gifts and an estimated price. Mark off when you've bought, wrapped, and shipped presents by tapping on a special icon for each task. You can be a secret Santa by password-protecting your list.The US$2.99 app just arrived in the App Store last night (click opens iTunes). With just 19 shopping days until Christmas, this might be a big help for your last-minute buying frenzy.
Sony's PlayStation 3 tops another "Best Blu-ray player" list
For the longest time, the answer to the inevitable "What's the best Blu-ray player?" question was simple: "Sony's PlayStation 3, of course." Now, however, prices of less extravagant decks have plummeted, making the PS3 one of the pricier BD players on the market. True though that may be, Sony's BD-infused console still managed to top CNNMoney's list of "Best of the Blu-ray players." Critics pointed out that its Profile 2.0 support, quick load times and obvious extra benefits (gaming) made it a surefire winner, with the BDP-S350 and Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD notching silver and bronze, respectively. Panasonic's Profile 2.0 DMP-BD50 and Samsung's tried and true BD-P1500 finished out the top five, though it's fairly evident that reviewers didn't bother taking cash into account. We'll keep an eye out for the "Best Of" list for bargain hunters, but you're probably better off just grabbing the cheapest deck you can find this Friday and pondering the decision at a later date.[Thanks, Anthony]
The Best of Massively: Our most helpful guides
In just over one month, Massively will celebrate its first birthday! Last week we started a countdown to the event by kicking off a series of features highlighting the best stuff from the site so far. We started with our ten most important interviews. Today, we're continuing the weekly countdown by listing some of your (and our) favorite guides!We broke them out into six categories, counting down to the best and most popular. A wide variety of games are covered, so chances are you'll find something useful in here. This list can serve as a springboard to a ton of content -- dozens and dozens of articles. So consider this your go-to place for info on some of the hottest games.Without further ado, here's the guide to our best guides. Wow, how meta is that! Click to start >> %Gallery-32805%
