Well, here's my list of favourite apps for my iPhone (not including
any of the standard apps like the brilliant Google Maps). Some of
these are free, but many cost a few bucks, but I reckon they are worth
it. I'd be interested to hear what favourites everyone else has:
Aussie Specific Apps:
FuelView - Finally The WA govt's Fuelwatch is actually useful for me.
Shows a list of the fuel prices at petrol stations nearby with the
cheapest at the top with distance and how to get there provided by
Google maps. Brilliant! What's not brilliant is the fact that diesel
is still 137.9 compared to unleaded at 106.9c. :-(
WA Traffic - All of the Main Roads freeway and other webcams
accessible online from the one app (there is a Sydney version
available as well). Great for checking to see if I should avoid the
freeway or not on the commute in to work. What's not good is how
pathetic the reliability of the Main Roads webcams are. This morning,
they are ALL offline. Even when they are online, although they
advertise on the MRD website that the cameras are updated every 5
minutes, it is in reality only every 20 minutes. In addition to
hating Main roads for braindead Traffic Light programming and speed
limit sign placement, here's another reason to hate that particular
govt dept. :-(
Pkt Weather - Much better than the default weather app as it gets far
more detailed and more importantly, more accurate weather observations
and forecasts straight from the Bureau of Meteorology. Also shows
current wind strength and direction (in knots - yay!) for us
windsurfers as well as rain radar etc.
IceTV - Shows upcoming TV schedules and if you have an EyeTV digital
TV tuner and IceTV subscription, allows you to click on a show or
series on your iPhone when you're out and about to record them on your
Mac at home. The IceTV subscription is $99 per year, but in my opinion
worth it if you have an EyeTV for the detailed onscreen program guide
in EyeTV itself (works great with Smart Guides to automatically record
every show that has "David Attenborough" in it no matter what time or
channel for example) as well as this remote scheduling ability.
Toilet Mate - okay you can laugh, but who hasn't at some time needed
to know where the closest public toilet is? Hmmm? yes, I thought
so. Shows the distance and directions in Google Maps. :-)
AU Postcodes - Type in a State or suburb and it will show you the
postcode(s) or type in a postcode and it will show all suburbs with
that pcode.
Qantas - Arrivals and departures at any Australian airport. Accurate
up to the minute when my plane had to divert to Adelaide due to a
heart attack victim on board on the way home from Melbourne. I
actually kept my fellow passengers up to date with the latest delayed
ETA in Perth while we waited on the tarmac. (and yes, the hosties did
say we could use our phones while we waited). :-)
And here are a few other fav apps that aren't specifically Australian,
but are very handy nonetheless:
Jaadu - It may be the most expensive iPhone App I have ever bought at
Au$29, but it is worth it. So much better than MochaVNC. It allows
you to remotely control your Mac or PC via VNC screen sharing, but
also can be used as a numeric keypad or powerpoint controller or
portable trackpad or shortcut keypad even when you are sitting in
front of your computer. It finds Macs or PCs on your local LAN using
Bonjour so you don't need to know IP addresses and it is far more
reliable and robust than the Mocha products as well as featuring
lovely teleport animations and a very useable way of moving the mouse
around and precisely clicking and dragging even with a tiny screen
view of the computer you are controlling. (you can also pinch and
zoom to increase the viewable area)
Onetap Movies - shows the movies and show times at all the cinemas
closest to you. Also shows ratings, reviews and movie trailers.
Stanza - Excellent ebook reader app. Huge online library of free
eBooks a click away. Has a Mac app that can convert just about any
doc into ebooks for easy reading on the iPhone.
Ping - good for network troubleshooting
WiFinder - Good for scanning for open and locked wifi networks that
aren't always visible in the built-in wifi control panel. Free at the
moment while the author tries to get Apple to release new version.
AirSharing - good for filesharing between Mac and iPhone (Discover is
a free alternative)
TideApp - Shows you tide info and predictions for major Australian
ports. The tide chart has pretty basic graphics, but it works.
Surf report - handy if you're a windsurfer and you forgot to bring
your sail. ;-)
Guitar - great guitar app if you actually want to play some guitar
music (using chord notation) strumming chords and plucking individual
strings. Works well even if you don't know how to play guitar. Very
fun.
Units - convert from anything to anything else - distances, weights,
volumes, temps, data storage and also has a nice inches and centimeter
ruler.
Dual Level Lite - when you want a couple of spirit levels to get that
picture exactly straight.
WhiteNoise - the air-conditioner noise puts our 3 month old daughter
to sleep instantly (just remember to turn on airplane mode to turn of
the phone and wifi - don't want to cook the little one!). The Amazon
rainforest and other sounds with sleep timer and fade-out are great as
well.
BigOven - the imperial measures are a pain, but it has a huge number
of recipes available and options for putting in the ingredients you
have on hand and getting recipe suggestions etc.
BabyLog - great for new mums to keep track of all the important info.
Then there are the great games.
Asphalt4 - excellent 3D Car racing game. Race a Lamborghini down city
streets bumping other cars off the road.
Cube - an opensource Doom/Quake type game.
BSkiesLite - fun helicopter game
etc etc.
Ah, these iPhones are just too useful and fun. It's not surprising
Apple has sold more Apps in just a few months than the entire mobile
app industry has in a year. iTunes gift certificates work for apps
too, so make great Chrissie presents for your iPhone and iPod touch-
owning friends and family. ;-)
-Mart
------------------------------------
Martin Hill
email: mart_hill "at" mac.com
homepages: http://web.mac.com/mart_hill
Mb: 0401-103-194 hm: (08)9314-5242
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