What's In My iPhone -- Part Five: The Bloggazine Stand

My Folder "Blogs & Magazines" entails:

App: SquareSpace
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: A blog administrative tool.
Cost: Free
Comments: Many people user Wordpress for their blogging CMS. I use SquareSpace, it just feels right for me. Not taking away anything from either product. The iPhone app, while I rarely use it to 'post on the fly', does do a very not job giving me stats. Good app, well worth having if you use this platform.

App: MarketingProfs
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: A content feeds aggregator for http://www.marketingprofs.com/
Cost: Free
Comments: A good quick read from time-to-time.

App: Harvard Business Review (HBR Tips)
Rating: ✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Daily tips from the HBR.
Cost: Free
Comments: Good tips for a wide range of business concerns.

App: All Top: Social Media
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: This is a feeds aggregator for the AllTop.com website specializing in post about social media.
Cost: Free
Comments: Solid feed app with very topical information from a diverse array of content providers.

App: All Top: Marketing
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: This is a feeds aggregator for the AllTop.com website specializing in posts about marketing.
Cost: Free
Comments: See above.

App: BuzzFeed
Rating: ✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: This feeds aggregator specializes in pulling content trending as 'viral' or on the raise.
Cost: Free
Comments: A great one-stop spot for your daily meme.

App: Wallpaper*
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: From the magazine stand to your iphone. This awesome culture, trends and design magazine is a must have if your of the creative collective.
Cost: Free
Comments: A must-have iphone magazine.

App: LIFE
Rating: ✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: It's LIFE magazine on your cell phone.
Cost: Free
Comments: A unique representation of the printed edition, complete with an array of photos and articles.

App: Joystiq
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: A feeds aggregator specializing in the video game and digital gaming industry.
Cost: Free
Comments: A great resource for the avid gamer.

My folder "Comics" contains: I'm going to preface by saying that while not new to comics I'm new to getting them with my iPhone so this area is very new to me and I'm only now discovering it. If you have any feedback for me pertaining to the one you think are best please email me at justice at bigblockstudios.com or hit my twitter handle @justicemitchell. Thanks!

App: DC Comics
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Browse, purchase and read all your favorite DC Comic titles with this iPhone application.
Cost: App: Free - Comics: are price/download
Comments: A great number of specific editions are even free.

App: Marvel
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Browse, purchase and read all your favorite Marvel Comic titles with this iPhone application.
Cost: App: Free - Comics: are price/download
Comments: Ditto.

App: Comics +
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Browse, purchase and read an array of different comic titles and publishers with this iPhone application.
Cost: App: Free - Comics: are price/download
Comments: Check the 'Newswire' for all the news to use!

App: Panelfly
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Browse, purchase and read an array of different comic titles (many more adult in subject matter and writing content/style) and publishers with this iPhone application.
Cost: App: Free - Comics: are price/download
Comments:

App: IDW
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Browse, purchase and read an array of different comic titles (many more adult in subject matter and writing content/style) and publishers with this iPhone application.
Cost: App: Free - Comics: are price/download
Comments: This one has "Danger Girl" and she's just hot.

App: CrappyCat
Rating: ✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: A awesomely animated little comic strip about a Crappy Cat and his many dysfunctions.
Cost: Just like crack, the first taste is often free.
Comments: Terribly funny and wildly illustrated.

What's In My iPhone -- Part Four: Tools, Search & News

Here's a new (to me) must-have news reader:

App: Pulse News
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: This is an awesome visual feed aggregator for all your favorite RSS subscriptions.
Cost: $1.99
Comments: Well worth price. Watch this be the model for future data push. Great interface.

In my "Search" folder:

App: Google
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: A Google search tool.
Cost: Free
Comments: The best part of the application hands down is the speech-to-search ability. Look for the tiny microphone on the top right, click it, speak it and wah-lah.

App: Wolfram
Rating: ✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: They call it a "computational knowledge engine." I call it wild as hell.
Cost: $1.99
Comments: It's like search on steriods and if your educationally, or research driven this is MUST HAVE tool. Here try it for free online first and you'll see what I mean.

App: Bing
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Is the Microsoft version of the Google search tool.
Cost: Free
Comments: BING is making a lot of strategic alliances and they're mapping system is really maturing well.

In my "Tools" folder:

System Default Apps:
• Calculator
• Notes

App: Carpenter
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: It's a carpenters level and several other helpful tools.
Cost: $1.99
Comments: This is a great app but there's something catawampus with my phone so the apps don't work properly. I would assume it's been the few times my daughter as been told she can no longer watch Caillou on YouTube.

App: Wikipanion
Rating: ✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: A search results against wikipedia's site data.
Cost: Free
Comments: Just what you'd think it is, with that said a nice tool to have.

App: Flashlight
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: It makes your screen fill with one of many colors that you can choose.
Cost: Free
Comments: It's what you would expect but it does indeed work. I also like using the red setting so I can feel as though I'm on a secret black op's mission when I'm trying to make my way across the bedroom without having a plastic toy gouge my foot face.

App: Big Words
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: This fun lil' app just make what you type on it REALLY BIG on your screen.
Cost: Free
Comments: I used this app to get Mardi Gras parade floats to see me over people – it worked like a champ.

App: Battery Doctor
Rating: ✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: This app is supposed to work by optimizing settings on your phone to reduce battery drain.
Cost: $.99
Comments: I've seen no measurable results other than the $1.00 I paid for it.

App: Trapster
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: This goofy little app' gives potential location of police speed traps based on user notification.
Cost: Free
Comments: Fun, app but gets annoying after a while as it will notify you of a lot of speed traps.

In my "News" folder:

System Default Apps:
• Stocks

App: CNN
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Nice, visually robust feed aggregator with links to more detailed articles.
Cost: $1.99
Comments: I like the integration of 'LIVE' and 'iReport' content to this application. "My CNN" is an internal favorites filter and the addition of 'following' thread ability makes this application worth purchase.

App: NY Times
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: News feed aggregator with links to more detailed articles.
Cost: Free
Comments: A solid mobile extension of the printed edition. Admittedly they're not exploiting the ad potential that they could within the application. I know, I'm a whore.

App: Huffington Post
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: News feed aggregator with links to more detailed articles.
Cost: Free
Comments: You would figure that an online newspaper would have an great mobile site, and they do.

App: AP Mobile
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: News feed aggregator with links to more detailed articles.
Cost: Free
Comments: I was really surprised upon startup it sought my location for more geographically topical articles – well done. Great app, well worth your time, in fact I'd even pay for it.

What's In My iPhone -- Part Two: Social

Without a doubt the most used reside in my "Social" folder:

App: Linkedin
Rating: ✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: This is an iPhone truncated representation of your Linkedin account.
Cost: Free
Comments: I great reference tool and messaging tool. Be careful with the connections option cause it can "Download All" and if you have a lot of contacts it can kill your address book.

App: AIM Free
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: AOL's instant messaging service on your iPhone.
Cost: Free
Comments: Good app, but don't forget to log-out when your done otherwise your drunk buddies will AIM you stupid shit in the middle of the night.

App: Mashable
Rating: ✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: This feeds aggregator allows for a great mobile representation of the full website.
Cost: Free
Comments: Must have if you have the insatiable needs to be in the know.

App: Facebook
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: The Facebook website to your iPhone.
Cost: Free
Comments: If you're addicted to Facebook then it's already on your phone.

App: TweetDeck
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: This iPhone version of the twitter/social application is a great tool to organize, sort and search tweets and social posts.
Cost: Free
Comments: A must have if you use or enjoy twitter and find it a useful tool in your day-to-day efforts.

App: iCoolhunt
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: A social 'trend hunting' social application. Allow you to photo perceived trends and submit to the overall community for review.
Cost: Free
Comments: Fun app, though admittedly I need to spend more time with it. What can I say, not many trends in "happy-town."

App: Bump
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: One of the default must have apps for the iphone allowing you to "Bump" iphones together and securely pass user contact information.
Cost: Free
Comments: Pretty good app, doesn't always work the first time though. Additional note that you look like a fucking tool when you use it.

App: Loopt
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: This iPhone application will tell you where your other friends are that are within your profile on a visual map. Big Brother, you have arrived.
Cost: Free
Comments: I've watched this app from a far. It's starting to mature. We'll see what moves it makes in the next six months as I assume Facebook will move into the proximatiy based, "check-in" spectrum.

App: Foursquare
Rating: ✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Lastly, the premiere location based iPhone application. Allowing you to create an account and find offers, review and fraternize locations with a game-like rewards structure. What's unique about location (or proximity based) applications is it knows your locations based up on your GPS within your phone and serve content applicable to your geographic location.
Cost: Free
Comments: Crack on a stick.

What's In My iPhone -- Part One: Child's Play

I'm of course not going to go through the iPhone OS preloaded applications. Needless to say most of them are simply, very effective and world class.

Items NOT in a folder:

App: Dragon Dictate
Rating: ✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Voice recognition, speech to text application.
Cost: Free
Comments: It's a little tricky at first but once you get the hang of it you'll never txt while driving again.

App: Camera Genius
Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Multi-tool set to add functionality to your iPhone image capture ability.
Cost: $1.99
Comments: You'll see later that I own a ton of photographic applications for my iPhone, and this is the only one (short of the default "Camera" app) that's not in a folder.

The "Sydney Folder" (for those new to this blog that's my two and half year old daughter) -- This is a tab bit misleading as she barely plays with these anymore going straight to the youtube icon to watch her shows.

App: Animal Sounds
Rating: ✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Animal pictures and correlating sounds.
Cost: $0.99
Comments: When you have the 'four-up' option open and begin to mash all of the animals together it sounds like people being tortured in hell. Or so I would assume.

App: City Sounds
Rating: ✩ (out of 5)
What is it?:  Car and city pictures and correlating sounds.
Cost: $0.99
Comments: See above.

App: Pet Sounds
Rating: ✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Pets and basic domesticated animals pictures and correlating sounds.
Cost: $0.99
Comments: See above.

App: Zoo Sounds
Rating: ✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Zoo and exotic animals pictures and correlating sounds.
Cost: $0.99
Comments: See above.

I give those apps some crap but for parent I would advise it really seemed to get her wits about her when we where in public places and parks. Good learning tool.

App: Word Cub
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: A phonics based applications that allows learning of letters and sounds.
Cost: $1.99
Comments: Well worth the money, it's power is in it's simplicity and it manages to hold her attention from time-to-time.

App: Old MacDonald
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: A fun-filled animal to farm matching game.
Cost: $0.99
Comments: This has a little game-play aspect to it that will initially take some figuring out for your little one.

App: Old MacDonald - by Duck Duck Moose
Rating: ✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Interactive cause and effect touch app based on the childhood song.
Cost: $1.99
Comments: This is a must-have app for the age group. Funny and interactive, you might even find yourself playing with it.

App: Wheels On The Bus
Rating: ✩✩✩✩ (out of 5)
What is it?: Interactive cause and effect touch app based on the childhood song.
Cost: $0.99
Comments: Another knock-out app from app developer Duck Duck Moose.

Seeing as we're on a kid theme this post I'd also reco' this site parents: The Playgrounder

The Future of FourSquare

I'm not going to bore you with 'FourSquare 101' as I'm beginning to understand that a number of my readers are well adept to the industry and are actually for more from me. FourSquare, being the front-runner with Gowalla and Facebook quick on its heels, currently has the industry lead. But geo-located checkins are the name of the game and everyone wants a piece of the action.

OK, fine, here's a quick Wiki 101 on FourSquare:
Foursquare is a web and mobile application that allows registered users to connect with friends and update their location. Points are awarded for "checking in" at venues. Users can choose to have their Twitter and/or their Facebook accounts updated when they check in. In version 1.3 of their iPhone application, Foursquare enabled push-notification of friend updates, which they call "Pings." Users can also earn badges by checking in at locations with certain tags, for check-in frequency or for other patterns such as time of check-in.

The possible future for FourSquare and its developing competitors may look like this:

User-Empowerment –
There still is little that we can control about FourSquare. We have a profile, yes. We have awesome statistics on our locations, as well! But minimal customization for profiling and no direct way to embed the essence of the application within our own content (blogs, etc.) short of referencing locations back to the application. I'm seeing that in the future, people should not only be able to create rewards, badges and develop more robust incentive strategies – but allow for more visual customization of profiles and business pages. And I can't post photos to locations – why?

Increased rating ability –
"Shout outs" are great but sharing tips and extending rating to a user’s base, I think, will become more important, as well. Regardless of circumstance, FourSquare needs to extend greater ability for users to give both positive and negative (constructive, ideally) criticism to locations.

Sort ‘till my heart’s content –
I'd like to see greater sorting ability within categories, allowing users to cluster locations and send them to friends, perhaps, thus “incentivizing” them to checkin to those locations for "Justice's BFF Badge" or the likes.

Increase conversation –
Much like comment fields, forums and Google Buzz, we need to see great threaded conversation about checkins. Beyond simply rating things, we need conversations to take place about checkins in a more fulfilling manner. Wait and see – this might open a wonderful door for surveys and polling assisting businesses know what their customers really want.

Mobile application co-ops –
When developing location based applications for GPS-enabled devices in the future, FourSquare’s current API needs to be easier to use and more robust than ever. We're seeing a wave of applications coming to a screaming close because they were simply too short-sited to let others work cooperatively with them, and while FourSquare has done this admirably, it needs to continue and embrace doing so.

Nesting services, brands and communities –
Frankly, FourSquare's hot right now in the marketplace. And too expensive to work for given that you have a small brand that could successfully utilize their services. FourSquare (and all proximity-based applications) needs to be careful not to outsell themselves. Once the cache of this technology becomes normality, business models better be in place to service all takers before the Facebooks of the world make it as easy as creating a "Like" page.

Mapping exploration -
Loopt does a mediocre job of giving you an idea ‘where yo dawgs is @’ but it needs significant improvement. I'd love to see more mapping functionality, combined with photos and real-time connectivity with my followers. While, indeed, it does seem a little creepy, I think while we preach privacy we still want connectivity within the groups we trust. It would also be great to see sorting within these groups as well. If I'm downtown, click, there's my nightlife in a single action.

More game play –
Gowalla seems to have an edge with game play on graphics and allowing for "Founders" of locations, but it still seems thin to me. Watch the future of these applications look to Internet-based gaming and watch things like "clans" and levels come out it. Before you know it you'll be buying a Slurpee trying to get 'Titanium Mayor.'

Badges!!! –
I LOVE badges! And while I don't think they should be as easy to construct as Facebook "flair," I do think theye should be more badges for greater minutiae. I understand that it's part of FourSquare’s business model to construct and sell badges within a branded construct, but those badges should be held with greater exclusivity than user-created or 'minor' badges. Perhaps there's more of a user-based submission on evolutionary contests for badge creation?

Better rewards –
We need better rewards. While badges and points ARE cool, they're going to eventually be the Achilles heel to the product. With great loyalty should come great “incentivizing.” WeReward.com and others are seeing that there's real traction in garnering users by giving it away. FourSquare needs to start thinking about a better treatment of the people that do rack up the points. With 100+ to 1000+ users out there, you're seeing a real-time commitment with no current payoff.

Addendum to last point: When I was writing this post this came to light a day later -  Foursquare Now Experimenting with Badge Rewards

Previous FourSquare related articles:

• Here's a post I wrote talking about game-play ethics of FourSquare
• Here's a post I authored for business as a 101

Information for businesses wanting to get involved with location-based marketing, go here:

• Here's FourSquare's take on its message to businesses

Nerd Merit Badges, I <3 U!

The Apple iPhone 4 Checks One Promise Off My List

There's a spot in my heart for a bizarre little list. The list of things I was promised from films and technologist that I've not got EVER! Today, I got video conferencing in my hand. I don't know why this was a biggie for me but it was. It's not on my wrist, but I'm not being stingy considering that it does more than I was promised.

Apple introduces "FaceTime." T is a cell-phone application that allows you to video conference using your iPhone. The iPhone 4 is to be without a doubt the finest phone on the market by the end of June.

We all knew it was coming based on the blunders (or intentional leaks from Gizmodo) by Apple's crack secret squad leaving the prototype out for all to see. Admittedly, I think every geek was kinda' wondering if that's what we were really going to see today – but it was, and more.

• So many features, I'm all tingly
• Design Specifications
• Technical Specs
• The Killer Screen
• Yes, yes, but how much???

It's sexy. Like it wouldn't be? Not only am I a gadget freak, as a professional photographer I'm very excited to see the quality and intensity of the new 5 megapixel camera as well. It's got another 10 to 15 years before it replaces my Digital SLR equipment but it's going to awesome watching it try. I applaud the dual camera (front & back) ability to swap while in FaceTime mode as I think this will be a pretty intensive jump for the Professional world as well. Think of being on location with your client and give them the seamless experience of what you're seeing.

Couple of items to question based on what I can see:

• Will designing for the display prove to be any different?
• What applicationally do you think will come of the FaceTime operations with Augmented Reality apps?
• What effect of the larger battery will be eaten by the newer processing chip?
• What level of multi-tasking abuse is this phone prepared for and can it be adjusted within preferences?

Last of course here is my list of lies that I've NOT gotten yet:

• Jet Pack(s)
• Shiny Fashion
• Mind Control Helmets
• Stun & Death Rays
• Flying Cars
• Food Pellets
• & The Orgasmatron