My Favorite Things of 2008, Part One
During the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing my favorite things of the 2009…
iPhone / iPod Touch Apps
I was introduced to the concept of micro-journaling in the 80’s by a writing professor who suggested it as a way to encourage daily writing in the light of my inability to keep a full journal. Micro-journaling has made a comeback recently with online services like Twitter being seen as an alternative to blogging, but I still prefer the act of capturing my day in a sentence or two scribbled in my tiny pocket journal or captured on my iPod Touch. MyDiary is a simple to use, easy to read app that does the job admirably. I set myself the challenge to keep my entry small enough to fit inside the space allotted to each entry in the monthly view.
Picking a favorite online radio app is particularly difficult. I have downloaded and tested quite a few, and several, like Pandora, WunderRadio, Public Radio and the SomaFM web app have all carved out a permanent spot on my iPod Touch. But I have to give top honors to Stitcher, an online aggregator of news and information that collects news reports, podcasts and other streaming media into topic-based channels (or individual sources if you prefer). Best of all its free!
Picking a favorite game was much harder than choosing a favorite radio app. So I decided to go with the game I’ve played the most: TanZen, a tangram puzzler which sports both style and grace. I don’t expect many people to put this at the top of their list, but I’ve always been charmed by this ancient puzzle and I do find myself playing it a lot. Of course, I also feel you should have an Aurora Feint game, Fieldrunners, Deep Green and Toy Bot on your device as well.
The winner of the “I Can Has a Timekiller” category has to be the I Can Has A Cheezburger app. I’m a sucker for lolcats and their poorly spelled expressions. This app also has the oh so minor distinction of being the only iPhone app I’ve mentioned on my tumblog. Coming in close second (oh, who am I kidding?) distant second is the iAPOD Viewer (for the Astronomy Photo of the Day site).
I haven’t really explored many different ways to read material on my iPod Touch. For web-based text that I want to read later, I have found that Marco Arment’s Instapaper works really well (there’s a free version to try out). Stanza was one of the first apps that I added to my device and I have not found a need to go searching for anything else. With 12 sources of reading material, including Project Gutenberg and feeds from many popular news outlets, I doubt I’ll be exhausting this app’s possibilities any time soon.
Of all the websites that share news, views, videos and other info about iPhone apps, Touch Arcade is the one I visit most often to stay on top of all the newly released iPhone games. 148Apps (which I just discovered) and TUAW both come in a close second.
and the 13p Award for the Most Awesome, Mind-Blowing, and Pretty Darn Frickin’ Sweet iPhone / iPod Touch app goes to…
Apple’s AppStore!
What!?! Yep, I have a problem. The app that I spend the most time in is the AppStore itself, exploring all of its maze-like pathways, nooks and crannies, and aisles upon digital aisles seeking out new app gems to include on my little electronic device o’ happiness. I’m not afraid to admit it, but please note that I do have restraint and have not yet hit the 148 app limit. Yet.
But the year is still very young. 
