Holiday App Finds
Every year we travel quite a bit around the holidays giving me much time to play on my iPhone 4 which continually surprises me. Waiting in line at airports and driving in a car for hours lends itself well to searching for new iPhone apps. I find some new ones each year and they usually last until the next holiday season. So here is what I have found to lead me into 2011.
1. Teux Deux (www.teuxdeux.com) - A very clean, simple, and stylish “to do” list app brought to my attention by my bro-law by a designer called swiss-miss. You are prompted to create an account when you download the app which always annoys me; however, this enables you to synch your to do lists across your computer and mobile devices. It’s divided into days and if you need to move something from one day’s list to another, you can simply drag and drop. FREE
2. Ihop-KC - The International House of Prayer has designed an app that provides you with sermons/teachings from the Ihop Leaders. Also, you can hear their current worship music, download videos, sermon notes, view and download things from their archives, and watch the prayer room live. It’s rather impressive for a new app. FREE
3. Spring Pad (www.springpadit.com) - Spring Pad is similar to Evernote, but it seems to work with how my mind flows a little better. You can collect ideas, photos, Web pages, etc. and save it in various project folders. Then you can create story boards and/or collages. For example, if you are building a new house, you can collect ideas and photos in one folder. Then you can create a design board online or on your phone. FREE
4. Path (www.path.com) - So over a year ago I said goodbye to Facebook (no offense…just tired of the creepers). Path is a social network site that allows you some of the same functions of Facebook but instead of sharing your life with hundreds of unknown acquaintances, you are limited to only 50 contacts/friends/family. You can also share with people not on Path, but again, it’s limited to 50 people. It’s photo-based…so basically, it’s a twitter based on pictures. This works for me b/c my family often wants to see pictures that I used to post on Facebook. This lets them do that. FREE
5. Foodspotting - It’s no secret I love food and finding a good place to eat. Foodspotting lets you document all the fun places you eat and leave reviews so that others who use Foodspotting can also partake of what you enjoyed. So basically, it’s up to users to fill the food database which is a little different from Yelp or Urban Spoon. It also acts a little bit like a Foursquare or Whrll in that you get points for various food spottings. Personally, I use it to document fun places I’ve found to eat. FREE
6. Cardbank - For all those who hate full wallets, this app is for you. This app allows you to scan all your membership, award, library, and other type cards into one app. The good part is you can put your cards in a drawer b/c when you go to a store and need to show your card, the cashier can literally scan your phone…no card needed. How it works is you insert your card number into the cardbank. It then creates a scannable barcode. The app already has hundreds of vendors in their database. But it also gives you the option to add vendors not in their database. $.99
7. Planning Center Online (www.planningcenteronline.com) - This is for Worship Leaders or anyone in charge of planning a church service. It is awesome! You have to have an account to use it. You can send out rehearsal schedules with song attachments, develop service plans from week to week and share with all who participate, download media clips and so much more. You can create a list of volunteers, musicians, etc. and schedule them for services and send out reminders that they can receive on their phones. There is also a “Live” feature that allows for real time communication during a service (e.g., last minute change that needs to be communicated to everyone). There is so much more to this cool little tool. If you are a Worship Leader, you will love it! FREE
8. mDriveFree - This is a mobile flash drive. Seriously, you can save files right to your iPhone and open them on any computer using your phone as a mobile flash drive. Very helpful. FREE
9. Runmeter - If you’re a runner, this is worth the $4.99 investment. It tracks how many miles you run, has a GPS so you can find a route if you’re in unfamiliar territory or looking to increase your mileage. You can save your routes as well. Also has a calendar to track the days you’ve run and a remote to control your iTunes through the app if necessary. You can also connect the app with Twitter and Facebook. $4.99
10. RunPee - For all movie goers who frequent the restroom…this is for you. This app lets you know when there is a good time to use the restroom during a movie. It will also provide you with a brief synopsis of what you will miss while gone and how long you have before it gets good again. This app makes me laugh…and it’s free. FREE
Those are my finds so far. As you can see, I download very few apps that cost money unless they will be extremely useful to me. Let me know if you have some other fun ones for me to check out.
