(no subject)
*sigh*
I was wondering how long it was going to take me to start blogging out of boredom. It's the middle of summer, it's beautiful outside, and I would love to be out watching Nikki's softball game, shopping, or hell, doing anything that involves excessive walking. No such luck, stupid broken foot. Up side is, it really does feel a lot better when I'm not overdoing it (like last weekend) and I can pretend I'm just being a couch potato because I want to, not because I have to. Swelling = pain = wtf was I thinking?
Anyway, finally got the new firmware onto my iPhone after a tortured upgrade to iTunes 7.7, including fun escalating app crashes, and I'm happy to say it was well worth it! Spent five hours this morning gleefully installing and testing apps like a madwoman. Well, no cackling, but I was afraid once I'd wake up my roommate Clobby with my very loud "Now that's fucking cool!" at 8 AM. Fortunately, she sleeps like the dead.
My list of must-haves (not including things like iRemote, which everyone is raving about, but I don't have, because I don't use iTunes like that):
1) Facebook & Myspace Mobile: As much as I hate to admit it, Myspace did it right this time. iphone.facebook.com blows m.myspace.com out of the water, but there are so many features missing on the Facebook app it's nearly unusable. That's right, no wall, no pictures. On the other hand, the Myspace app is fast, even on the EDGE network, and offers all the functionality of the full website. Verdict: I may start using Myspace again after a year-long break. (Even though I am certainly not leaving Facebook behind-- the iPhone site is awesome, and I'm not always relegated to phone connectivity only.
2) Instapaper: In this app, I can save pages I want to read on my phone later straight from my laptop. Not the links to the pages, but the pages themselves-- no waiting on the oh-so-slow EDGE network for the pages to load, and no actual navigating back to the place I was just previously at on the proper computer. I think that I will be using this a LOT. It is missing a couple feature-- for one, you have to manually update the feed, there is no automated setting or push to the iPhone-- and off wifi, it does take quite a long time to download all the pages. Verdict: I will find this useful in my everyday life, especially in the weeks until I upgrade to the 3G iPhone.
3) OneTap: One of the few apps I actually paid a couple bucks for. There are a few apps that promise movie listings based on your location; some even have directions and trailers available. One even had rottentomatoes.com ratings built in, but no reviews (which maaay have tipped the scales for me). This seemed to be the one that had them all in a halfway decent UI, so I snapped it up. Verdict: I now know I want to see Get Smart. It's playing at the Galaxy theaters at 6:55. I may end up going. :D
4) reQall: This nifty little app allows me to save to-do lists, shopping lists, and share those saved tasks or reminders with other reQall users. You can do it either by typing the reminder in or calling a number and having reQall convert your voice to speech. Verdict: I can see this being very handy once school starts up again.
5) AIM: This one I mention, but don't recommend, not because it isn't a well-written app, but because who uses AIM anymore? Everyone I know is on MSN. Come on... I need msn on my iPhone, meebo keeps logging me out! Verdict: Added, because I miss MSN. If you use AIM, though, the program is fine.
I added a few other apps as well, but haven't played with them enough or uninstalled them fairly immediately. There are some crappy apps out there.
*sigh*
Ah well, it's back to trying to figure out what's going to keep me entertained for awhile. I've been really into Doctor Who lately, and especially the fanfic aspect of it. It's interesting for me, really-- the last show I was into like this was the first season of Veronica Mars, and even then I was never involved in the fandom. The Doctor Who fanfic writers continue to surprise me with the quality of their work; even I, the daughter of an English teacher and general grammar and quality Nazi, have been able to become suitably immersed in the worlds they've created.
In the past few weeks, I've even started following a few authors and commenting on their work. This is generally a huge no-no for me, since I am as a rule a flighty, inattentive, dedicated lurker on any website I frequent. Queue drama, of course: participating was an incredibly bad idea. I managed to piss off one of my favorite authors by accidentally skipping the section where she said she hadn't seen the last episode of the show, and leaving an almost-spoiler in the comments. Not an actual spoiler, mind you, but hell, it's her story, she gets to decide the comments she keeps. I was actually surprised by the venom in her comment-screener's reply. Note to self: this fandom is nothing to mess with, accidentally or no.
Ah well, it's back to lurking for me, though; I can't trust myself not be an idiot and miss things I shouldn't. I don't pay attention well, it's one of my more endearing traits, I've been told, and I can't blame anyone else for that. In my own defense, though, she's a really great writer, and I was really excited to read that chapter. High praise from a supercritic like me... just wish she'd seen it that way.
Ah well, live and learn.
I'm doing a lot of sighing today. *sigh*
I was wondering how long it was going to take me to start blogging out of boredom. It's the middle of summer, it's beautiful outside, and I would love to be out watching Nikki's softball game, shopping, or hell, doing anything that involves excessive walking. No such luck, stupid broken foot. Up side is, it really does feel a lot better when I'm not overdoing it (like last weekend) and I can pretend I'm just being a couch potato because I want to, not because I have to. Swelling = pain = wtf was I thinking?
Anyway, finally got the new firmware onto my iPhone after a tortured upgrade to iTunes 7.7, including fun escalating app crashes, and I'm happy to say it was well worth it! Spent five hours this morning gleefully installing and testing apps like a madwoman. Well, no cackling, but I was afraid once I'd wake up my roommate Clobby with my very loud "Now that's fucking cool!" at 8 AM. Fortunately, she sleeps like the dead.
My list of must-haves (not including things like iRemote, which everyone is raving about, but I don't have, because I don't use iTunes like that):
1) Facebook & Myspace Mobile: As much as I hate to admit it, Myspace did it right this time. iphone.facebook.com blows m.myspace.com out of the water, but there are so many features missing on the Facebook app it's nearly unusable. That's right, no wall, no pictures. On the other hand, the Myspace app is fast, even on the EDGE network, and offers all the functionality of the full website. Verdict: I may start using Myspace again after a year-long break. (Even though I am certainly not leaving Facebook behind-- the iPhone site is awesome, and I'm not always relegated to phone connectivity only.
2) Instapaper: In this app, I can save pages I want to read on my phone later straight from my laptop. Not the links to the pages, but the pages themselves-- no waiting on the oh-so-slow EDGE network for the pages to load, and no actual navigating back to the place I was just previously at on the proper computer. I think that I will be using this a LOT. It is missing a couple feature-- for one, you have to manually update the feed, there is no automated setting or push to the iPhone-- and off wifi, it does take quite a long time to download all the pages. Verdict: I will find this useful in my everyday life, especially in the weeks until I upgrade to the 3G iPhone.
3) OneTap: One of the few apps I actually paid a couple bucks for. There are a few apps that promise movie listings based on your location; some even have directions and trailers available. One even had rottentomatoes.com ratings built in, but no reviews (which maaay have tipped the scales for me). This seemed to be the one that had them all in a halfway decent UI, so I snapped it up. Verdict: I now know I want to see Get Smart. It's playing at the Galaxy theaters at 6:55. I may end up going. :D
4) reQall: This nifty little app allows me to save to-do lists, shopping lists, and share those saved tasks or reminders with other reQall users. You can do it either by typing the reminder in or calling a number and having reQall convert your voice to speech. Verdict: I can see this being very handy once school starts up again.
5) AIM: This one I mention, but don't recommend, not because it isn't a well-written app, but because who uses AIM anymore? Everyone I know is on MSN. Come on... I need msn on my iPhone, meebo keeps logging me out! Verdict: Added, because I miss MSN. If you use AIM, though, the program is fine.
I added a few other apps as well, but haven't played with them enough or uninstalled them fairly immediately. There are some crappy apps out there.
*sigh*
Ah well, it's back to trying to figure out what's going to keep me entertained for awhile. I've been really into Doctor Who lately, and especially the fanfic aspect of it. It's interesting for me, really-- the last show I was into like this was the first season of Veronica Mars, and even then I was never involved in the fandom. The Doctor Who fanfic writers continue to surprise me with the quality of their work; even I, the daughter of an English teacher and general grammar and quality Nazi, have been able to become suitably immersed in the worlds they've created.
In the past few weeks, I've even started following a few authors and commenting on their work. This is generally a huge no-no for me, since I am as a rule a flighty, inattentive, dedicated lurker on any website I frequent. Queue drama, of course: participating was an incredibly bad idea. I managed to piss off one of my favorite authors by accidentally skipping the section where she said she hadn't seen the last episode of the show, and leaving an almost-spoiler in the comments. Not an actual spoiler, mind you, but hell, it's her story, she gets to decide the comments she keeps. I was actually surprised by the venom in her comment-screener's reply. Note to self: this fandom is nothing to mess with, accidentally or no.
Ah well, it's back to lurking for me, though; I can't trust myself not be an idiot and miss things I shouldn't. I don't pay attention well, it's one of my more endearing traits, I've been told, and I can't blame anyone else for that. In my own defense, though, she's a really great writer, and I was really excited to read that chapter. High praise from a supercritic like me... just wish she'd seen it that way.
Ah well, live and learn.
I'm doing a lot of sighing today. *sigh*