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My Top 10 iPhone Apps of 2008

Bwana — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 06:04:53 +0000

You know, I never thought I’d cling so much to a phone as much as I cling to the iPhone. When the iPhone was updated to version 2.0, I knew that it was going to make things worse. While many still believe the iPhone to be over hyped and not worth the time, money, and support, I firmly believe it has changed the smart phone market in a very short amount of time.

On the matter at hand. Here at the end of 2008, which iPhone applications were the most valuable players? Let’s count it down:

Brightkite (Free) – Brightkite for iPhone actually prompted me to sign up for a service that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. It allows you to check in to your friends network your various locations, provide status updates, and upload photos.

The combination of the iPhone interface, GPS, and camera make this app intuitive and fun to use. Thank goodness for Brightkite’s privacy options so I don’t have to let the world know where I am at any given moment. I am at http://brightkite.com/people/bwana
Qik (Jailbreak) – Qik is a big motivator for me to jailbreak (hack) my iPhone. Qik provides live streaming of video and audio from the iPhone much like Ustream.tv does for computers and webcams.

They have done a great job of utilizing the iPhone’s hardware to squeeze out a great streaming experience. It’s too bad that this application is not available on the iTunes App store, but several bloggers have received advanced copies of the app that doesn’t require a jailbreak and absolutely love it. I can’t wait until the masses can use it, but for now, I’m using it with a jailbroken iPhone. My Qik profile is at http://qik.com/bwana
Evernote (Free) – Evernote is a great way to stay organized and the iPhone version does not disappoint. From taking ordinary notes to voice reminders, I find this tool to be an absolute necessity to stay organized.

Given that it synchronizes with the cloud, I can create and edit artifacts on my iPhone and on the computer. This app is easily worth money, but the authors have made it free to the public.
Winterboard (Jailbreak) – One of my biggest gripes with the iPhone is the lack of customization options available out of the box. Since I’ve jailbroken my iPhone for Qik functionality, I am also able to customize backgrounds, icons, sounds, and applications using Winterboard.

This free application available in Cydia is a must have if you’ve jailbroken your iPhone. Often, I get asked, “How did you change that background?” or “How did you get that sound?”, and the answer always points to Winterboard.
Smiles ($2.99 Zen|Drop/$4.99 Combined) – I need to thank Chris Pirillo for introducing me to Smiles for the iPhone. Chris gave me the opportunity to review this game and I’ve been playing it almost every night since. Smiles is a matching/puzzle game that resembles Bejeweled on the surface but adds elements that differentiate it.

For one, you can use the iPhone’s accelerometer to change orientation in the game. This may sound like a visual preference, but it also serves as a strategy for certain game modes. I’ve reviewed Smiles on Bwana.TV, and I definitely believe it to be worth the $2.99/$4.99 price tag. Here’s my video review of Smiles for the iPhone:
Uno ($7.99) – I’ve played Uno since I could burp. Yes, it’s been that long. This game is just the epitome of fun. The rules are not difficult, the color based cards make it easy for the youngest kids to pick it up, and it’s hard to find someone who says they actually don’t like the game.

The iPhone version of Uno adds a multiplayer component to an already rich single player experience. Now you can play your friends over Wifi and the internet if they have an iPhone or iPod Touch. At $7.99, it may sound a bit expensive, but once you’ve played it, you’ll see right off that it’s a premium app for the iPhone. Here’s my video review of Uno for the iPhone
Facebook (Free) – Easily the most comprehensive, in-depth, social networking application for the iPhone today, Facebook takes it to a whole new level. As a light user of Facebook, I know that if I’m impressed with the features and functions of this app, that the regular users of Facebook will find it essential. It does it all.

If Facebook is your social network of choice, there’s no way you can do without viewing and uploading photos, updating your status, posting notes, approve/ignore requests, reading notifications, read and respond to messages, and even utilize Facebook chat. This app is a must have.
Pandora Radio (Free) – Do you listen to music? Then there’s no excuse why you shouldn’t have Pandora installed. Pandora uses technology from the Music Genome Project to create dynamic “radio stations” based on artists and songs that you like.

Want to hear similar music to a certain artist you like? Simply create a station based on that artist and Pandora plays a great selection of music that’s very similar to your artist and give you the ability the rate up or down songs. I love this app, and for a while I believed it to the best available for the iPhone. If you don’t have it installed, I don’t know what you’re waiting on.
Ocarina ($0.99) – To be blown away by this app is not only a pun, but an understatement. Ocarina turns your iPhone into a thousand+ year old instrument called the Ocarina. You may have heard of the Legend Of Zelda game, Ocarina of Time? Well yes, it’s pretty much that, but on your iPhone.

The folks over at Smule have done something I never thought was possible. They register the air you blow in the iPhone microphone and create music with fingerings on the touchscreen. There are many scales and pitches allowing you to create just about anything. Here is my latest video, where I play “Song of Storms” from the Legend of Zelda. This thing is truly incredible.

Smule is also holding a contest worth $1000, if you can create your own Ocarina video, so if you got the skills, enter today.
Google Reader (Web/Free) – If you read My Top 10 Websites of 2008, then you already know Google Reader is my MVP. Well things are the same on the iPhone. Although this is a web application, it doesn’t change my love for it. Google has refined Google Reader for iPhone so much that it seems like the most optimal way to read news on the web.

The interface is responsive, the controls are intuitive, and all the major functionality (star, note, share, email) for handling articles is right at your finger tips. Literally. Hands down, Google Reader for iPhone is the best iPhone app of 2008 for me, and I believe it’s a great choice.

So what are your favorite iPhone apps? Don’t be ashamed to express yourself in the comments.

My Top 10 Websites of 2008

Bwana — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:07:30 +0000

It’s coming to the end of 2008, and along with the holidays, vacation, shopping, we also tend to find a lot of “best of 2008″ tv shows, specials, and even blog posts. I’d rather not go into why I’m doing this, I just find that it’s a fun activity. Last year, I did a video on my top 5 console games of 2007. It was met with a potpourri of comments that mostly disagreed with my choices. I didn’t care obviously, but I found that it’s something people like to be a part of. So, I’m going to do a few of these this year. The first, is my top websites of 2008. These sites will range all over the place, but I’ve found these (web) sites to be my best of the best for 2008. Let’s count it down.

Posterous – Blogs are commonplace now and there are so many platforms out there, that it’s hard to really decide on one. When one does decide, there is usually a fairly steep learning curve for new users. Posterous is one of those sites that I just like. I don’t know if it’s because of the ease of use (no sign-up blogging is very cool), or if it’s the look and feel, but I just like it. I’ve been using it as a ramble blog that I can post to from my iPhone (via email). Very handy for when something interesting pops in my head and I just want a quick post. There are lots of other features that make it awesome, but this is why I like it
Socialmedian – Socialmedian shocked me when I found news on it that I didn’t find anywhere else. Usually, there is a huge amount of overlap on the internet and if you find a news aggregation site, you’ll notice some stories you’ve seen elsewhere. This was not the case with Socialmedian as I found a new set of users and with it, a fresh set of news. I did a video about Socialmedian being a refreshing take on news aggregation.
Ustream.TV – Live streaming really boomed in 2008 and sites like Ustream.TV hit the mainstream during the 2008 elections. Barack Obama and John McCain both had live streams on ustream.tv that brought in thousands of simultaneous users. Ustream has always been my favorite live streaming site for their feature set and community. Ustream has not always been the most stable of platforms, but I’ve looked past this shortcoming and enjoyed the site nonetheless. I utilize Ustream.TV for my live streaming show, Bwana.TV Live, where I live stream the recording of my videos as well as my audio podcast.
Youtube – What can I say? Youtube is the biggest and baddest video sharing community on the web. If it’s a popular video on the internets, there’s a big chance that it’s on Youtube. There are tons of videos to explore and you can waste hours there if you’re not careful. I host my Bwana.TV videos on Youtube and through their partner service, I have generated enough adsense to pay for my hosting and other costs. Not only is it fun, but if you’re serious, you can make some serious cash through Youtube.
Twitter – Twitter is the most intriguing site of them all. To say I have a love/hate relationship with Twitter would be an understatement. Here’s a site that I’ve gotten so much value and information from that frustrates me to no end. There’s so much potential with Twitter that it’s impossible to put into words. Much of the web is starting to recognize the power and Twitter is definitely picking up steam. You may recall, I was one of the organizers of a Twitter boycott called the “Twit-Out” which was aimed at taking a day off from Twitter to discuss all the issues and concerns we had with it. We didn’t expect Twitter to make any noticeable changes due to this event, but we got some great discussions out of it, and it gave us time to reflect on why we love/hate Twitter so much. Once Twitter balked on the IM/Track feature, I left the service for a few months out of frustration, but decided to return once I accepted the fact that IM and Track were essentially dead. Since then, I’ve revamped the way I use Twitter and am finding TweetDeck to be an acceptable experience (but no where near what I had with IM/Track). Follow @Bwana at Twitter to see my rants.
FriendFeed – FriendFeed is where it’s at. If you’re not signed up for FriendFeed, then I urge you to join today. Most would call FriendFeed an aggregator with community discussion capability, but I would call it a community discussion platform that has aggregation capability. I find that the best discussions take place on FriendFeed, not only because of the people, but because of the technology. The way the site is built, it encourages you to comment. It doesn’t load a separate page, or load a popup window, but simply expands a nice little box for you to ramble your thoughts in. I love it. The other features add to this, but I believe this is why FriendFeed stuck with me. You can follow me at http://friendfeed.com/bwana
Gmail (Google Apps Mail) – Webmail has been popular since the 90s, but personally, I had been going back and forth between desktop clients (such as Apple’s Mail.app) and using the web interfaces. I signed up for Google Apps For Your Domain (GAFYD) and pointed my bwana.org domain to it to use for email. This gives me Gmail’s interface with my own domain for no cost at all. Since I’ve mastered (somewhat) Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts, I can tear through hundreds of emails in a matter of minutes. In 2008, Gmail was definitely a valuable site for me.
Hulu – I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first. I didn’t believe Hulu would take off. I saw it as Universal’s tantrum against Apple and iTunes. Needless to say, I was very very wrong about Hulu. Hulu started small, but eventually grew to the one stop shop for premium online video. If there’s a TV show you like and you’ve missed an episode, your first reaction would be to check if Hulu has it. I’ve watched House, Terminator (the new series), and The Office solely on Hulu. These are shows I used to record on my DVR, but I’ve since moved to Hulu for that content. The experience is great, the commericals are tolerable, and the quality is consistent. If you’re not a part of Hulu, you need to become a part of it today.
Google (Search) – It’s now a verb. To Google something means you are searching the internet for something. It’s become part of our vocabulary. In 2008, Google solidified it’s dominance as the search engine of choice. All other search engines are a distant second to the almighty Google. It’s amazing that 10 years ago, this site was barely off the ground and today’s it #1. When someone asks me a question about tech, the first thought that comes to my mind is “Did you google it yet?”. There’s even a site called “Here, let me google that for you“. You can type in a simple question and it, *gasp*, searches Google for that question. It literally shows an animation of the question being typed in Google, and the search button clicked. It’s a little bit harsh, but it makes a valid point. If there’s something out on the internet that you’re searching for, Google is a great place to start looking.
Google Reader – My number 1 site for 2008 is definitely Google Reader. This is my information hub. This where everything comes in and I’m able to digest it and possibly share it. I use it on my mobile phone (iPhone) and on all my computers, no matter the operating system. Google added features to Reader that allow you to view your contacts shared items. When my friends share news from Google Reader, I can see them in my view. Google also added notes so that I can add my own commentary to shared items to help spark conversation. These notes can be imported into other sites that I love such as Socialmedian and FriendFeed. RSS is a wonderful thing and as I discover new sites on the web, I can syndicate them all in one place, and that one place is Google Reader. It is definitely my most valuable player in 2008.

Honorable mentions: Feedly, Remember the Milk, Toluu, Strands

What were your top sites this year?