When I first got the iPhone into my hands, I ‘collected’ everything that remotely looked interesting. That did change a lot and now I only install apps if I really think they’re worth the effort.
My last app is called Angry Birds and is a game that you can play for hours without noticing how much time you spent playing it. The game-play is as simple as it can get but the level increase in difficulty and make it even more fun. But see for yourself:
Trackmania is (next to the GTA-series) my favorite game. It’s THE game, if you’re looking for an exciting race game with jumps, loops and other crazy stuff.
Unfortunately, it isn’t available for the iPhone/iPod touch yet. Luckily enough though, there’s an alternative that will run smoothly even on the iPhone 1st Gen., which already tells you that it isn’t the kind of game that has a lot of bling-bling to offer when it comes to graphics. But that isn’t what the game is about anyways. It’s about testing your driving/flying skills and about competition.
I played Trackmania quite a while, was asked to join a clan and realized I’m playing too much. 
But Trackmania (and now also Jet Car Racing), is that kind of game that you can play if you have just 30 minutes or even 5 hours of time to spare and since it’s a racing game, you don’t miss out if you’re not playing for a while.
I’m excited that I found this game. If you like/d Trackmania on the computer, I’m sure you will like this game for your iPhone/iPod touch.
Here’s a video about the game:
Flickr is a great place to share your photos. It took me some time before I became acquainted with Flickr, but since I started my Project 365, I’m using this plattform to share my photos.
To view new comments, upload pictures or more, a Flickr client on the iPhone can save precious time and is always available everywhere you take your phone. The official Flickr app though, is missing a few features one may like, such as photos near you and groups. Overall, I get the feeling that the official app is good for checking a new photo once in a while, but not if you intend to do more.
Darkslide instead is a Flickr client that pretty much gives me everything I could need – and more. I’m sure it’s going to fulfill you’re needs as well, but just check it out for yourself. There are both a free and a pro version available, while the only difference of those seems to be the advertisement.
I didn’t publish a lot of reviews in my Apps-section, but today I’d like to change that. The reason is my very high mobile phone bill, due to many calls to and from abroad.
Telekom offers an app with which you can easily check how much money you already spent and how many of your free minutes are left. I’m not a Telekom customer but rather decided to get a Simlock- and Netlock-free iPhone with Vodafone instead. Unfortunately, they don’t offer a similar app, as the iPhone isn’t sold by them. Nevertheless, if you’re guessing that someone else made the effort to create such an app, you’re right, it’s called Kosten Check D2.
Before I start writing about why I like it, I would like to pint out that a lot of people rated this app badly for it either not working at all or it having stopped doing so. Said that, to me it works fine thus far – knock on wood.
The app nicely shows you how much money you spent and how much free SMS, MMS and/or minutes you have left. This works because the app connects with Vodafone.de’s QuickCheck. Obviously since the app doesn’t really do much more, one would not see the need for it, but I prefer an app over websites any day. The app is nicely made and as I mentioned, it’s working well with me. So if you are looking for an app that helps you controlling your costs without having to log onto Vodafone’s website, this one may be the one you are looking for.
Since I started this new category, namely apps, I came across a cooking app, which I think is grand. Although it will take a whopping 400+ MB of your iPhone’s memory, it doesn’t offer almost unlimited recipes. Instead, Jamie Oliver decided to go a different route, which I think makes this app worth the money: he describes every meal with a summary, offers a shopping list and provides a step-by-step guide that includes pictures. Additionally you will get videos explaining different kitchen skills, such as Cooking the perfect steak or Top fish buying tips.
I’m not a great chef, or even close to that, but I’m looking forward to preparing some meals with the help of this app.
Twitter – next to feeds – is pretty much my source of information. I also use it to keep in touch with friends, sending direct messages, which only the desired recipient can read.
Unfortunately, I would need to check Twitter repeatedly to see whether or not I received a new message or @ reply. For Mac users, push notifications are already possible, using the Growl service, but I neither have a Mac (yet) nor would I like my computer to be running 24/7.
Boxcar is an app that finally solves this issue for me. Available on the iTunes store (for free), it will allow push notifications for the service(s) of your choice. The first service is for free, every other one is available via the in-app-purchase. Services available for push notifications are:
What makes Boxcar special is the possibility to continue using the Twitter app of your choice. You can also read your news via Boxcar, but I prefer reading my messages with Tweetie. Other Twitter apps supported are:
Twitterrific
Twittelator
Twitterfon Lite
Twitterfon Pro
Twinkle
SimplyTweet
Twitterena+ Lite
Twitterena+ Pro
Birdfeed
Hahlo.com
The notifcations are pretty instant and for an app, that doesn’t cost anything, I would highly recommend trying this, if you would like to have Twitter push notifications or other services mentioned above. I’m using it only for my direct messages and @ replies, without the option to receive information about my timeline and I don’t see much reason to complain. 
Since the beginning of mankind, people tried to communicate as efficently as possible and the introduction of the e-mail, which enables us to share information worldwide, sure had a massive impact on how we see and live communication today. Google intends to take it a step further and creates something new: Google Wave.
If you don’t know what Google Wave is, watching the following (unofficial) video may help:
I was happy enough to receive an invitation and currently I’m trying to understand all the features and possibilities that Google Wave offers at the moment. A nice to know information for new ‘Wavers’ is the following search:
search:public
This will enable you to find publicly written waves, as you may not know many people that have an invitation yet. This way you will get to know the features and can help to make this preview a beta soon.
If you still have no idea what Google Wave is, where it fits in between Facebook and Twitter, or if you simply would like to read more about it, you will find a good article here.
At the moment it’s quite slow and I encounter some issues once in a while. Nevertheless, this seems to be the next big thing and I’m looking forward to seeing the impact it will have on the communication over all and for me.
Just one more thing.
The so-called Web-Apps for the iPhone aren’t really newsworthy, but in regards to Google Wave it may be interesting to know that an added Google Wave home screen bookmark will not show the Safari wrapper, but look like an independent app.
Apps are undoubtedly one of the best things about the iPhone and also the iPod touch. They make your life easier with To-Do apps for example, bring your friends closer via Facebook & co. and shorten waiting periods with games.
Because I found so many interesting apps and sure will find many more, I would like to share these findings with others. Hence I created a new ‘Apps’ category in which I will inform you about apps that I find interesting, useful and/or fun. These may not necessarily be the newest or the best apps available, but with the help of your comments I hope to find even better ones that make the day-to-day experience with the iPhone or iPod touch an even more rewarding one.
