The Top 5 iPhone Apps of 2008

A very short list of my top five iPhone applications of the year...

• Tweetie -
  Twitter was made for mobile interaction. There are many great Twitter iPhone apps out there. Twitteriffic is gorgeous. Tweetsville has a great UI. But Tweetie just beats theem all in speed and stability. After it gets a little makeover and fixes the UI of the direct messages... Tweetie will be set.
  

  
  
  




• Collapse! Chaos -
  When Apple first announced software development on the iPhone, Collapse was the first game I thought of. Man, I love the general concept of this game. Its a bit slower (in style) than it is normally, but, I'm still happy they brought it to the iPhone.
  
  

  
  
  




• BlocksClassic -
  It might be the simplest game on the planet, but I play it all the time. Its great for when you're waiting around for five minutes.
  

  
  
  




• Tris (no longer available) -
  Tetris might just be the most perfect game ever for portable gaming (or for any platform). But of course the iPhone's Tetris game is pricey and slow. Tris was perfect... simple, quick, free, and very pretty. Unfortunately Tris was forced to disappear. :(
  
  

  
  
  




• Klick -
  I find myself using Klick more and more. Klick makes Flickr viable for the iPhone. Period.
  

  
  
  




• Bonus - NetShare (no longer available) -
  This should really be at the top. Those of us who were lucky enough to get it while it was available know why its so awesome. When you're stuck without internet and your laptop, it is just priceless.
  
  

  
  
  

iphonemac

The Top 5 Mac Apps of 2008

A (very) short list of my favorite mac applications of the year...

• Dropbox -
  Dropbox might just be the best and most original idea of the year. File sharing and file syncronization became simple and speedy. Enough said.
  

  
  
  




• Bowtie -
  Easily the best, simplest, and most affordable iTunes accessory ever. You can read my quick review here.
  
  

  
  
  




• LaunchBar 5 Beta -
  Years ago before Quicksilver I used LaunchBar. Well, LaunchBar has come back in a big way. Its incredibly quick and smooth. Once you try it, you won't be able to use anything else. Its that good. It just really needs a way to customize its appearance and perhaps a way to add Del.icio.us bookmarks.
  

  
  
  




• Eventbox -
  Eventbox is a great concept with a great design. It still needs some development, though. But its really has awesome potential... and the guys who make it are open to ideas, which is the best part.
  
  

  
  
  




• Flow -
  The fact is that Transmit by Panic is still a great and reliable Mac FTP app. No question. However Flow attempts to be a bit different. I have to say I was weary of switching from Transmit, but I have really grown to enjoy using Flow.
  

  
  
  

macsoftware

School Helps You Watch Television

So I have a terrible terrible final tomorrow. I've been studying a lot, or at least I've been trying to. So tonight I was taking a break and was watching a repeat of House because apparently repeats of House are my new addiction.

Anyway, at one point House asked the Team where fear was in the brain, and before Foreman answered I told him out loud "the central nucleus of the amygdala". Right after I did, Foreman answered "the amygdala". Now I actually understand much of the neurological terminology on the show. I guess this class was good for something.

fluffschooltv

The Switch

So, we made the switch to Verizon FIOS this week.

I had been checking the FIOS availablity page every few months to no avail. The towns next door to us had had FIOS for over a year. Then finally last week I happened to check and suddenly it was available.

We were surprised by how much money we could save with the phone/internet/cable service, even with a ton of premium cable channels and a faster internet plan and signed up right away. However, we ended up having to speak with Verizon sales three different times on three different days to get our order right. We found out the third time that the order wasn't done right at all, and instead of a multi-stream cable card (for my TiVo HD) and a regular cable box, they were going to send us an HD cable box and a regular cable box. By the third phone sales person, though, we finally got someone who actually knew what a TiVo was and what a cable card was, and set up the order properly.

On the day of installation, the installation guy actually showed up on time. A short while later, a second guy came to help him set up service outside and in the basement. A couple of hours later a third guy came to help with setting up the cable card for the TiVo since the other two had never done it before.

So, we had a little FIOS party with three guys from about 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. When the left, everything was working pretty much flawlessly. I've used the router they force you to have before, so configuring it was no problem.

The first night of watching TV I started to notice an issue. My HD on certain channels would come in choppy and sometimes not at all. After some google searching I found this:

"Verizon FiOS (Series3 and TiVo HD only): If you are using a Series3 or TiVo HD DVR with Verizon FiOS, you may need to use a signal attenuator to decrease the strength of the signal before it enters the DVR. You may also want to use a low pass filter or diplexer to avoid macroblocking. Please contact Verizon Customer Support for more information or see Picture quality issues with Verizon FiOS service."

So, I was able to fix the issue, right? Wrong. This post has been a draft for about a week now. Thats because my TiVo still isn't working properly. I'm still getting skipping and freezing on my HD channels all of the time. After trying all kinds of different combinations of attenuators to decrease the signal strength to the perfect level, I've finally given up with that and Verizon is overnighting me a new cable card. I'll post how that goes next week....

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Update

Finally got a new TiVo, and the problem has been solved. Woohoo! FIOS, all in all, is fabulous.

fiostivotvverizon

*Cinema -- Step Brothers

Step Brothers (2008)

• I'm ashamed of how much I enjoyed this.
  

  
  
  




• Bordered somewhere on the lines of funny and almost horrifying at times.
  
  

  
  
  




• Mary Steenburgen just kicked ass.
  

  
  
  




• Kathryn Hahn, who played the older brother's wife, made the movie for me. I started liking the movie as soon as she showed up.
  
  

  
  
  




• I still can't believe that I enjoyed this.
  

  
  
  

Selling My Unlocked Original 8gb iPhone

I'm finally selling my mint condition unlocked 8gb iPhone. ! It is in extremely good condition, as it had a screen protector and a case on pretty much the entire time I owned it. Check out the auction! :)

iphonesale

*Cinema -- Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)

• Easily one of the best movies I've seen in a long while.
  

  
  
  




• So much better than I was expecting.
  
  

  
  
  




• The best romantic comedy I've seen since Knocked Up.
  

  
  
  




• Yes, I realize they both star Seth Rogen. He just works so well in romantic comedies.
  
  

  
  
  




• If we're going to continue with the Knocked Up comparisons, I have to admit that I found Elizabeth Banks much more likable than Katherine Heigl.
  

  
  
  




• Craig Robinson. You are just awesome.
  
  

  
  
  




• Jason Mewes and Jeff Anderson. Best guys ever.
  

  
  
  




• A five minute cameo made me finally begin to like Justin Long.
  

  
  
  




• I definitely have a thing for romantic comedies that also involve a healthy dose of dirty humor.