Anyway, pushing my soapbox back under the bed, I have an iPhone and looking back at my activities for the last few weeks, I am struck by how little I’ve created with my new toy – it’s as if someone crammed every form of media into an all powerful demon in my front right pocket (the left pocket just doesn’t feel right after years of carrying my blackberry in my right).  I figure that, rather than fighting these forces, I should embrace them.  In that vein, here are my favorite apps on the iPhone, purposely split into groups, consumption and creation.

Consumption

1. MobileRSS is an application that I started using on my iPod touch. I’m sure that there are updated RSS readers, but this one does everything I want.  I can sync to my google reader feeds, so that I only have to mark something read once.  I can also tweet, save for later with ReadItLater, open in Safari etc.  The real kicker of the app is the design, which is fluid and intuitive: swipe left or right to move between posts, pull the page down or up to load new posts.

There is a free version that is add supported, but if you’re consuming feeds through a firehouse, it’s worth the 3 dollars to have a cleaner experience.

2. ReadItLater is a way of bookmarking things that you want to (duh) read later.  It’s pretty simple and their site walks you through the details of getting the app.  I like the integration with MobileRSS, but I love how ReadItLater content is available via the web too.  I can bookmark something on my computer and read it on my iPhone through the app or I can grab something on my phone (usually large videos) and read/watch from the comfort of my Mac.

There is a free version of this that suits me just fine, as I rarely share via Twitter or other outlets from the app itself.

3. Kindle for iPhone provides a remarkably comfortable reading experience.  If you have a Kindle and have purchased content, you can download one of your books from the digital library and start reading (in seconds).  I’ve forgotten my Kindle while traveling a few times and the iPhone/iPod Touch version allowed me to keep reading.  You can also email passages of text, something that even my real kindle can’t handle.

The Kindle app is free as in beer and speech (but you can only access your paid content as far as I can tell).

4. Games, games, games… I don’t play games for long, but when I’m sitting on a runway, or waiting in line, it’s a great way to pass the time.  I recommend: Collapse, Angry Birds, Ragdoll Blaster 1 & 2, Trenches, Finger Physics free, Unblock Me, Zen Bound 1 & 2, N.O.V.A (this last one is an action packed 1st person shooter, but the rest are simple puzzle games).

These apps may run you from 1 to 3 bucks…

5. Pandora, Last.FM and Grooveshark are all streaming music services that have iPhone apps.  It has to be said: these crush your battery life.  However, in a pinch, it can help relieve the boredom of your overplayed music collection.

Pandora and Last.FM are free.  Grooveshark will require a pro account (worth it at 3 bucks a month) but you can listen to anything in their vast library.

6. This American Life and NPR are streaming radio.  Again, the battery thing is a problem, but it’s sooooo worth it if you’re stuck in an airport and need to drown out the angry people on cell phones…

This American Life is paid but supports NPR.  The NPR news app is free.

Creation

1. Twitter is what it is – love it or hate it, there is an app.  Including Twitter proves that my definition of creation is not terribly strict. I like the official version of the app as it’s free and full-featured, but there are other clients out there that work just fine.

2. Evernote is the app form of the service Evernote.com that I’ve written about before.  Their tagline is “remember everything” and that pretty much describes how I use the app.  I take photos of whiteboards, notes during meetings, voice notes or meeting recordings, and even iPhone screenshots and upload all that to my Evernote account to work on later.  It’s my memory dump for everything that isn’t a task and it’s the starting point for nearly every blog post I write (including this one).

Evernote is free, but you can get a pro account for a few extra features.

3. Remember the Milk, like Evernote, is the app form of a larger service.  Remember the Milk (RTM) allows me to create and save tasks to my master task that I view on my computer, but it also allows me to mark tasks complete, set reminders, etc all from my iPhone.  Like I said before, most of my content goes to Evernote, but if it’s a task (again loooooooose definition of creation) then I use RTM.

RTM requires that you have a Pro account, which runs $20 per year, but you can use the web interface for free.

4. Dragon Dictation is a natural language processing app for your phone that allows you to dictate text and then copy it into emails, text messages or anywhere else that you can hit paste.  I was blown away when I first tried this, as the accuracy is freakishly good. You might be dubious about the benefits of an app for this, but try it out.  It’s fantastic.

Dragon Dictation is free.

5. Sketchbook is for drawing.  I can barely draw a circle, but I love scribbling out rough ideas to return to later.  I can save my images and then suck them up into Evernote for storage (see what I mean? Evernote is awesome).  It’s a one-trick-poney, but then again, how many tricks do you need your ponies to do?

Sketchbook is $2.99.

So the final score is 6/5 Consumption/Creation.  I probably could have squeezed in another one or two on either side, but to be honest, consumption could have destroyed creation: I didn’t even include the “reference” part of the consumption family.  Apps like Menupages, Google Maps, Yelp, and TripIt are also a huge part of my iPhone usage.  I was nice to creation and drew the line closer to the middle…

What apps do you use to consume/create?  Shout it out in the comments.

~ab

Note: I’ve written about the iPod touch and my apps before, but I think that this post shows off some of the iPhone specific functions (as well as things I’ve learned since my last post).

There is a purity to the idea of music as the primary goal for the iPod (the phrase “it used to be about the music” always reminds me of Almost Famous and this scene above).  I’ve written about the feature craziness of the iPhone (here), but recently got an iPod Touch for Xmas, so I thought I would try an experiment.  You see, the iPod touch really has only two features – it plays music and video, like any iPod these days, AND it has a WiFi connection, a feature that leads to all sorts of mischief.  I wondered what I could get up to with only the WiFi connection.  Would the device still be useful if it were not about the music at all?

The results were entertaining.  I spent my vacation downloading apps and trying to get as much mileage out of the Touch as I could.  In fact, I’ll give you a preview of the ending: it was a lot of fun.  Let the games begin…

I started my trip to Milan for Xmas with Tripit, a program I’ve used before (but never on the Touch).  I synced my travel plans (with confirmation numbers and quotes), allowing me to tell the rather snotty Italian Avis rental guy that no, it was no ok if the price was 50 Euros more than the quote and yes I do have proof. In Italian this exchange was the rental guy saying  “e normale…” (shrug) and me responding: “NO non e normale.”  (insert look that said “just because I’m foreign doesn’t make me an idiot”).

Once on the road, I could look at my world clocks to make sure that my time zones were in sync.  This isn’t technically a new feature (it’s on the iPod Classic) but I found it very useful.

While in the air, I had read through one of  my kindle books (no not the complete works of Shakespeare – it just makes a nice picture).  It was great to do the same tricks that I do on my kindle:  taking notes, highlighting passages and adding bookmarks.  I also like having access to all my books, with the ability to download the books that I make have deleted or recently purchased using WiFi.  If the screen were 1 inch bigger, this app alone would be a selling point (if you don’t already have a kindle).

At road stops, a quick glance at Google earth provided a bit of entertainment, as I pinpointed my location and explored local attractions.  In the end, I used it for almost the same purpose as Google Maps (also included on the Touch), but I found the controls much more fun…  Turn by turn directions are available from other apps and as there is no GPS on the touch, it’s tough to get more mileage out of mapping features.

Once at my destination, I managed to tune my guitar (picture on the left) and then call ANYONE in my address book for free with Skype (picture on right).

Skype is such a useful app on the Touch that I’d almost buy one if it were a one trick pony.  The ability to call anywhere from any WiFi network saves oodles of dough and somehow, almost magically, the call quality is better than when I call from my laptop.  All you need to make this work is a headset with a microphone built-in – conveniently the same as my old blackberry headset…

Once I had arrived at my destination, there was nothing else to do but enjoy the vacation.  I wrote blog posts using Evernote, my favorite online note taking application.  You can write notes, add pictures, and then sync it all up to the cloud for safe keeping.  I will say that the built-in camera of the iPhone does add to the power of having applications like Evernote, as you can upload shots documents like business cards and such (which Evernote can scan for text and process for you).   However, I enjoyed typing away while in the kitchen with my grandparents.  It was convenient and much more subtle than opening a full laptop.

I won’t go into the details of the rest of my trip, but suffice to say, it was with family so the lively conversation sparked a few ideas which I captured with Remember the Milk (on left), probably the best task application out there (which I wrote about here).  I also had to do some grocery shopping, for which I found the lovely app ShopShop (right).

Also, family conversations inevitably end up in small arguments about relatively insignificant facts.  Wolfram-Alpha to the rescue!  This handy (although expensive) app connects to the full Wolfram-Alpha website (which I wrote about here) and allows you to type natural language queries such as NYC vs Milan (8.364 million people vs 1.298 million people) or my age in days (10061 days).  I find the math functions most impressive in this app (integrals and derivatives computed in seconds), but access to swaths of useless information is an agreeable plus!

For those of you who haven’t had a Panettone, your lives are incomplete.  That said, a quintuple bypass is probably not a life goal so perhaps a fitness app would be useful?  I’ll admit that I haven’t actually worked out per se with this sucker, but it looks great!  iFitness allows you to make up your own works outs from a large collection.  My new year resolutions will involve heavy use of this software – I’ll let you know how it turns out…

To close, I include the apps that are only for amusement.  Flixster allows you to update your NetFlix queue while doing heavy movie research complete with trailers and reviews.  You can also buy tickets and find theatres for new releases.  Also, I’ve included a screenshot of the games I’ve tried so far.  I think Collapse might be my kryptonite (perfectly good evenings gone forever trying to beat the floating bat creature who ruins this Tetris like game with gobs of ink).  Physics free is fun too – it’s not nearly as nerdy as it sounds.

Overall, the grand experiment was a success.  I managed to do many tasks on the one device and could have ignored the music function completely.  I recommend an iPod Touch to any traveler who wants a bit of fun on top of music player.  Let me know if you have any suggestions for me to try in the comments!

~ab

I’ve recommended portable applications before (here and here) but in the past year, capabilities have improved even further.  Running full-blown versions of some of the most popular programs from a flash drive has gotten easier.  Moreover, the open-source alternatives to unavailable applications are improving as well.  Here is a breakdown of what I’d recommend.  Download them and install them to your flash drive once, then make copies for friends (to carry around as thoughtful gifts).  My thanks to Lifehacker for giving me this idea last year.

Google Chrome – My favorite browser can now go anywhere.  Keep your favorite bookmarks and settings with you wherever you go.

Firefox Portable – Not everyone is a fan of Google Chrome.  For those on your list who prefer the Mozilla flavored browser, try Firefox instead.  Equally portable  – add-ons can even be installed on the portable drive.

Skype Portable – If your recipient is a road warrior, they’ll already love this application for chat and free calls.  I used it extensively from many countries, calling my wife for free.

Pidgin Portable – For those who use AIM, Google Talk, Jabber or the variety of other chat programs out there, try Pidgin as the be all end all in chat apps.  Pidgin can connect to most services and integrates  your buddy list into one place.

VLC Portable – Videos come in a bazillion flavors these days.  VLC makes simple work out of many formats, avoiding the complications of windows media player codex downloads and such.

Songbird Portable – Songbird is an alternative to Itunes, for those who want to carry a small media library (or a large one).  As Itunes doesn’t come in a portable package yet, Songbird makes a great replacement – even including a music store.

Open Office Portable – If you want to edit a word doc while on the go, Open Office is a great solution.  Capable of opening word, excel, and powerpoint docs, and these days a realistic office replacement, Open Office is a tremendous tool.

SpyDLLRemover – Spyware is not something to trifle with… SpyDLLRemover provide spyware protection and repair, in a tiny package – a great tool for keeping your computer safe.

7-Zip Portable – 7 zip is like winzip on steroids.  This is one of the cases where the alternative is simply better.  Carry this compressed file swiss-army knife with you and never be stumped by a file again…

Keepass Portable – Your mind might be a brilliant machine, but entirely too many passwords make life either very complicated or very insecure (if you’re using just one password for everything).  Keepass portable provides a safe repository for each of your passwords, without compromising security.

WinDirStat Portable – Is your hard drive mysteriously full?  Can’t seem to find that 20GB file that is hogging all your space?  WinDirStat scans your computer and maps out the contents of your drives.  The visual results make quick work of cleaning house.

Notepad++ Portable – A text editor to destroy all others.  Writing code?  Simply need a way to edit text files on the go?  Notepad++ will get you there.  Improved find/replace, among many other features, will make you forsake notepad for ever.

Finally, you’re going to need some flash drives – I don’t normally try to generate revenue from Just an Asterisk, but in an effort to recoup my costs for running the site, I ask you to buy your USB drives from the following Amazon link.  When you do, they throw a few bucks my way.

If you’re simply not interested in buying flash drives, you can always make a small donation (of any amount) via PayPal secure checkout using the link below.

Thanks for reading and the happiest of holidays to you all!

~ab

You were right.  It took me nearly a year, I swore up and down that my Flickr account was the bees knees, I wrote articles and explanations of how to use Flickr’s advanced tool set, and I ruined perfectly good cocktail party conversations, berating all services that did not stack up to my personal choice.

A year has gone by and now, like a dope, I have to reverse my position.  Why?  Because Picasa just changed the game, and I can no longer ignore the beautiful integration between Picasa and all my other apps.  Before I start into the details, this isn’t to say that Flickr is a bad service – it’s just no longer for me (yes I’m trying to save face – but let’s not write off Flickr entirely… there are too many devotees).

Without any more ado, here are the top 4 reasons I’ve decided to change over.

1. I can host 80GB of files for $20 a year.

This was the clincher, so in a way, it’s normal that it be my number 1  reason.  Suddenly, Flickr and Picasa are essentially evenly priced.  Before this week, buying the required space for all my photos, and future photos, was simply exorbitantly expensive.  My last defense crumbled, which allowed me to acknowledge the next 3 points…

2. Integration

In Flickr, when I wanted to send a photo to someone, there were three options – 1. I had already done this before and saved the email address. 2. I had to go into my email and find the email address before hitting send back in Flickr.  3.  I could just copy the link and ignore the email functions because my address book wasn’t available.

In Picasa, I just click the share button below and poof – my contacts are available from Gmail.

As you can see from the picture, it even looks like a Gmail message.  This is what makes the integration between these tools so powerful.  You don’t have to learn anything new.

This doesn’t end with email.  There is integration with other Google products too.

For example, you can specify the site of the photo on a Google Map, exactly like you did when you were looking for takeout last night.

If your camera (or cell phone camera) can geotag to your photos (a longitude and latitude value), these will appear in the familiar Google Maps interface, just to the right of you photos.  This makes sorting photos by destination a very pleasant task.

As far as integration goes, using Picasa if you already use Gmail for contacts and email will save you a ton of time.  If you don’t use Gmail, you might not be better off…

3. Ease of use

Gmail caught on because it was easy and fast.   When I started evangelizing, often I heard “but I already have an email program” and “I just don’t get it”.  These same people are nearly all Gmail users now.  I have to believe that the snappy response time for searches and other tasks makes a serious difference.  I won’t rant and rave about how Picasa takes things to a new level – in most ways it doesn’t.  However, it does benefit from the same value created by Gmail and other Google products – a simple interface.

4. All the same features (or at least the ones I use)

Finally, it’s worth emphasizing that this is not a baby version of the other popular photos sites.  There are some serious features involved.  Hardcore photographers will be asking, where are the camera related details for each picture?  Where are the ISO settings?  Where are the exposure details?  Well these are all available (if you hit more info), but are hidden to make the screen less cramped and to provide a better viewing space for your work.

Other fancy pants features exist too:  We’ve mentioned geotagging above.  There is also facial recognition, allowing you to tag your friends photos (using their integrated contact information from your Gmail).  In addition, there are collaborative albums, fans, commenting, full tagging features, video capabilities, email upload, and mobile access…

In conclusion

Yes I was wrong, dear wife, but I’m working to fix it.  This probably won’t be my last change of heart in the technology department.  You do deserve credit for seeing most of this right from day one.  Nice work.  Feel like writing for JAA?

~ab

Filter one – Star messages that are confirmations of orders.

When I order something online, I often star confirmation messages of pending deliveries for quick reference.   I’ve had about 99% accuracy with this search:

((confirmation OR Thank you) and order)

Give it a try.  Put that same search in your search bar in Gmail.

Did it work?  The results should pretty much just be order confirmations… Click on to create your own filter with the same query.  Put the terms in the “Has the words” section, as shown below and click next step.

Check the box “Star It” as shown below, or you could add a new label for your orders.

Finally, click “create filter”.  In my case, I didn’t want to apply this to previous conversations, only new ones, so I didn’t check the box next to “Also apply filter to ### conversations below”

Filter 2 – Travel Itineraries

I travel quite a bit and my itineraries end up getting lost in a sea of incoming email.  I call them out with this query:

(Itinerary and confirmation) –unsubscribe

You might be wondering why I include the –unsubscribe.  This is to remove emails from vendors who are trying to sell me travel software (that can track itineraries and confirmations and therefore appear in my results).  Who needs a piece of software when I can make Gmail do it?

The setup for this one is similar.  Follow the steps above, but in the first screen put:

You could also have put unsubscribe in the “doesn’t have” field (without the “-“) and it has the same effect.

In this case, you might want to include a new label, creating a folder for all your travel plans.

Filter 3 – Work Emails need their own space.

This one is going to need to be customized, but it’s still a goodie.  I send most of my mail to the same place.  However, personal mixed with professional else gets a bit tiresome (and confusing).  Luckily, there is a simple solution.  A domain specific filter.  This will put email from a specific domain (like “gmail.com”) in a special folder.

Create a new filter and try this:

By including the @justanasterisk.com in your “From” field, you filter only the messages sent by that domain.  In the next screen you can apply a new label and save your changes.

I hope that these little filter tricks have either given you some new tools or some food for thought.  Let me know if you have any filter tricks in the comments.  I’d love to hear them!

~ab

We are know that web pages can be bookmarked.  The act of saving web pages for future browsing has become second nature.  However, today we’re going to talk about the bookmarklet, which is a bookmark but with magical powers (sometimes).

First off, let’s recap on what a bookmark does.  A bookmark is designed to copy a URL (the http://… thingy) into your address bar and send you to that location.  The key point here is that the browser simply gets passed a bit of information that it understands and it executes the command (GO HERE!).

A bookmarklet is the same thing, just with (sometimes) a more interesting result.  Instead of passing a URL to the browser, it sends a little piece of code (called JavaScript).  This little piece of code has some restrictions for security, but it can be very powerful when it comes to aesthetics.  Anything on the page can be fiddled with using JavaScript.

To show you what I mean, here is an example bookmarklet explained:

A good bookmarklet is available from Twitlet.com.  Here you provide you username and password to Twitter and the site generates a bookmarklet for you to save.  Anytime you click on the bookmarklet, you receive this box:

Anything you type is sent to twitter as an update without leaving the page you are visiting.

Once you’ve found a bookmarklet to use, you can drag it into your browser toolbar for quick access.  For example, here it is in Google Chrome.

And here is an example in Internet Explorer:

If you don’t see a bookmark bar or favorites bar, you might need to enable it.

Now that you know what a bookmarklet can do, try searching the web for bookmarklets to your favorite services!  They exist for Gmail, Google talk, twitter, Google calendar, etc…  Just about everything!

Finally, here are some (overkill) points before you go:

1. If you want to try out some of my bookmarklets for Google tasks, Google talk and Gmail (including bookmarklets for Google Apps users) go here.
2. On thegeekiness.com, I went into some detail on how to create bookmarks and provided some examples.  Check this out if you want to know how to create your own bookmarklet.
3. If you’d like to wade through a ton of possible bookmarklets, try out bookmarklets.com.

Good luck in your bookmarklet endeavors

~ab

Despite my mistake, I still want to go into the anatomy of a domain.  I want to try convince you that (no matter who you are) you can have your own web domain.  You can have your emails go to me@bobsagget.me or me@JAAismyfavoriteblog.com.  It’s not hard, nor should it be only done by professionals.  If you want a weekend project, and don’t mind reading a little bit, you too can have your own space on the fantastic interweb…  I should point out that this isn’t entirely free.   However, for less than price of 3 lattes, we can get you up and running.

Step 1:  Plant a flag to make your claim

The web is comprised of domains.  Each domain points to a specific location (in fact a server) where the web page(s) are stored.  Google.com is a domain.  Justanasterisk.com is a domain.  When a domain name is created, the name is passed across the world (very quickly), so people in dubai can log into the same site, with the same name, even though their server is not necessarily connected directly to yours…

To get your own domain, go to this site.  Whoooooa you say – What are google apps???

What if I were to tell you that an email address @gmail.com is for sissies?  You can use Gmail (which I love, as I think we’ve established from my previous posts) but you don’t have to work with the masses.  You can access it from the lofty heights of your own internet ivory tower! Moreover, Google calendar and docs are just part of the deal!

Let’s take an example:  I registered the domain justanasterisk.com.  Then I registered for Google Apps.  Now when someone emails ab@justanasterisk.com, THAT is my Gmail address.  Pretty cool eh?  To get started go the link.

When you get there, click on get a domain from Google tab and search for the name you want.  Hopefully, one of the names (or a variation proposed by the system) will be something you think you’d like to live with.  Notice that you’ll be setup with Google services for free! (see the box in red)  From here continue to registration.

On the next screen throw in your information (this domain name is going to be legally registered to you after all).  When you’re ready to pay, Google will send you to their checkout, where you can put in a credit card and register officially.  If everything goes well, you should see a picture like the one below.  Click on the link “Return to Google Apps”.

Now you are a proud domain owner!!!  Congrats.  Let’s get it setup as your home.

Step 2:  Setup Google Apps

The first thing you’ll have to do is setup an administrator account for your Google world.  This is just the username for the main account (you get 50 accounts for free), so don’t worry.  It doesn’t have to be your final choice of email address.

When you’re ready, continue with the setup.  In the following Google is going to walk you through your new site.  I recommend using their guide to get you started, but remember – you’ve done the hardest part.  From here on in, you’re just icing the cake.

Step 3:  Customize the crap out of your internet home

The coolest part of having a custom domain is that you can add sub-domains.  With your new domain, if you get it from Google, you can get all of this done for you.  Straight from the first second,  mail.yourdomain.com should lead to your email and docs.yourdomain.com should lead to your google docs.  Browse through your dashboard to see what else is available.  For some, this may be the end of the line.  However, if you’re feeling particularly nerdy, I suggest reading Gina Trapani’s Lifehacker post called “Trick Out Google Apps for your Domain” which can be found here.

Remember that once you’re setup, you have all the same features you had when you used Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs.  The only difference is that you’re now your own brand!  Well done!

Feel free to ping me with any questions in the comments.

~ab