iphone apps thread

[lav]

I finally got myself an iphone and have been searching through the apps for some useful ones. We have the Wordpress plugin thread which was great so i thought I'd start an "iphone app thread"

Im not much of a games person but there seems to be an abundance of games. I am interested in hearing which apps have been useful for your business, work and time management etc.

2 free ones that I am finding very useful is TapMeDo and HoursTracker Lite. HoursTracker has enabled me to keep track of how long I am spending on jobs down to the minute. It also lets me input an hourly rate which calculates how much to invoice etc. Awesome app....

[Steve B]

I think it's called Shazam - it can listen to music and tell you the name of the song and the artist. It's very cool and can settle an argument.

I also like having a couple weather apps. since I work outside (The Weather Channel is one).

[vangogh]

I don't really use my iPhone for business all that much outside of being able to check email and surf the web when I need to. I never figure on a phone to do work. However I do have a few apps that are useful to my business should I need to use my phone. A few are strictly design related. Things like identifying fonts and choosing colors. I don't have them installed, but there are a few apps that let you FTP into a site or connect to your site's database. I have connections to my bank accounts and PayPal. I also have an app to check that my sites are still up and running.

Instead of trying to type out all the different apps I'll link you to my delicious profile (http://delicious.com/vangogh99/iphone+apps+webdesign). The link will take you 10 posts I bookmarked with all sorts of design and development apps. Probably a lot of duplication between posts.

For me the phone is still mostly a communication device when it comes to business. To me the small screen doesn't make work all that practical. Good to have some apps just in case, but for the most part I don't expect to do work on it. I'll use my iPad for the work when I get one.

[Paper Shredder Clay]

The top apps, I use regularly free and paid are: Osfoora (twitter), ReadItLater, Reeder (Rss feeds), iBearMoney (financial - although I hate their logo), BeeJive (although expensive one of the best im chat), FTPontheGo Pro (for ftping), GoodReader (PDF reader), Chase (Bank app you can now deposit by taking a picture of the check and uploading it); most of those mentioned have iPad apps as well. I have so many apps it's crazy.

[vangogh]

I know what you mean about having so many. If you're even slightly interested and there's a free version it's easy enough to download and try. And for 99 cents or $1.99 there's not exactly much risk in trying either. I've downloaded apps I only used for a day or two and still feel I got my $1.99's worth.

[lav]

Bee Tagg Pro is a good QR code reader.

[vangogh]

Cool. Looks like a good app. I had to look up what a QR code was. I'm not sure how popular they are here in the U.S. Maybe I just never notice them with all the bar codes.

[Harold Mansfield]

According to new government rules announced today, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad owners can now legally jailbreak in order to install any third party applications of their choice that haven’t been approved by Apple Inc. iPhone OS


EFF argued that jailbreaking is a non-infringing activity for three reasons. First, it alleged that at least in some cases, jailbreaking can be done within the scope of what is authorized under the license Apple grants to every iPhone user. It stated that [t]o the extent a jailbreaking technique does not modify any of the individual software programs that comprise the iPhone firmware collection, but instead simply adds additional software components to the collection, the practice may not exceed the scope of the license to use the iPhone software; or constitute a modification; of any Apple software components, any more than the addition of a new printer driver to a computer constitutes a modification of the operating system already installed on the computer.

iPhone Jailbreak & Unlock is now LEGAL! Says US Federal Law | Gadgets DNA (http://www.gadgetsdna.com/jailbreaking-iphone-is-now-legal-permitted-by-us-federal-law/5038/)

[vangogh]

I saw the news today. It maybe legal, but I'm also sure it violates the warranty. While I do like the idea of things being more open, I have to say there's a nice feeling in the security of everything having to run through Apple and the app store. I haven't had problems with any app and I can't say I'm having trouble finding apps. I'm sure there are some available for Android phones that would be nice to have, but at the moment there's no feeling of missing out on any.

I've always had the ability to jailbreak my iPhone and I've never been worried about anyone coming after me for committing a crime. I completely agree with the decision today. It's silly that you can't do what you want with the things you own. Still I'm not planning on jailbreaking my iPhone anytime soon.